1 2. Work Package 2-6: Project objectives, work progress and achievements 2.1 Project objectives and person months planned for the period WP 2 Awareness raising at local, regional and European level (with several sub-objectives) Target groups: o Entrepreneurs and research communities, investors o Local, regional and European stakeholders (Enterprise Europe Network, EBN etc.) o ICT Finance Marketplace and other project databases of H2020 and FP7 o Investment events and ICT conferences Capacity building with investor readiness, online/offline training o Webinars o Guidelines o Podcasts o Onsite trainings WP 3 Allocate the participants to the different project activities according to their needs Provide a continuous evaluation and selection process of the entrepreneurial stage and the investment needs of the participants as to offer them the right coaching opportunities and to facilitate their interaction with investors Continuation of Connect Investor Club focussing on cross-border investments Organize 9 investment-forums in the course of the EIG project Organisation of 6 e-pitches WP 4 Host a 2 day bootcamp to boost the investment success of project participants with the highest commercialisation potential by providing investment training and informal opportunities for cross border networking between companies, investors and partners To develop an in-depth coaching and mentoring overview for 40 SMEs/entrepreneurs using experienced international mentors and financing professionals to address the weaknesses of each project To provide 50 SMEs/entrepreneurs with hands-on investor readiness training which involves both online support and offline support WP 5 To increase matchmaking between ICT companies and investors via the establishment of a European version of the EuroQuity platform with an EIG community Establishment of the EIG website Implementation of e-pitches Hot Deals Event Paris as new matchmaking format WP 6 Raise awareness on the project activities at EU and international level Disseminate the project to the public at large, progress raising and broadening interest and knowledge about commercialization in Europe’s regions Contribute to clustering activities in particular through a common on line platform to projects supported under the objective 11.5 of the FP7 ICT work programme 2013 Participation in 4 events a year targeting the investor community and 8 events for the research and SME community (expected participation of 100 investors in the activities of European Investor Gate)
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2. Work Package 2-6: Project objectives, work progress and achievements
2.1 Project objectives and person months planned for the period
WP 2 Awareness raising at local, regional and European level (with several sub-objectives) Target groups:
o Entrepreneurs and research communities, investors o Local, regional and European stakeholders (Enterprise Europe Network, EBN
etc.) o ICT Finance Marketplace and other project databases of H2020 and FP7 o Investment events and ICT conferences
Capacity building with investor readiness, online/offline training o Webinars o Guidelines o Podcasts o Onsite trainings
WP 3 Allocate the participants to the different project activities according to their needs
Provide a continuous evaluation and selection process of the entrepreneurial stage and the investment needs of the participants as to offer them the right coaching opportunities and to facilitate their interaction with investors
Continuation of Connect Investor Club focussing on cross-border investments
Organize 9 investment-forums in the course of the EIG project
Organisation of 6 e-pitches
WP 4 Host a 2 day bootcamp to boost the investment success of project participants with the highest commercialisation potential by providing investment training and informal opportunities for cross border networking between companies, investors and partners
To develop an in-depth coaching and mentoring overview for 40 SMEs/entrepreneurs using experienced international mentors and financing professionals to address the weaknesses of each project
To provide 50 SMEs/entrepreneurs with hands-on investor readiness training which involves both online support and offline support
WP 5 To increase matchmaking between ICT companies and investors via the establishment of a European version of the EuroQuity platform with an EIG community
Establishment of the EIG website
Implementation of e-pitches
Hot Deals Event Paris as new matchmaking format
WP 6 Raise awareness on the project activities at EU and international level
Disseminate the project to the public at large, progress raising and broadening interest and knowledge about commercialization in Europe’s regions
Contribute to clustering activities in particular through a common on line platform to projects supported under the objective 11.5 of the FP7 ICT work programme 2013
Participation in 4 events a year targeting the investor community and 8 events for the research and SME community (expected participation of 100 investors in the activities of European Investor Gate)
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Person Months Plan European Investor Gate
WP 1 3.4 PM
WP 2 8.0 PM
WP 3 14 PM
WP 4 12.25 PM
WP 5 10.5 PM
WP 6 8.75 PM
Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug
2013 2014 2015
Reporting Period I Reporting Period II
Figure 1: Plan of EIG Person Months per Reporting Period
1.8
5 3
7
6
6 4.5
5.5 3.75
7
4.25
1.6
3
2.2 Work progress and achievements during the period
WORK PACKAGE 2: AWARENESS RAISING AND TRAINING a) Summary of progress towards objectives and details for each task
The key objective of work package 2 was to build capacity of the two target groups of European Investor Gate and to establish awareness raising mechanisms as well as trainings and training materials for two target groups: A) ICT entrepreneurs and SMEs participating in EU funded programmes and those targeted by the actions of the Digital Agenda for Europe B) investors interested in investing in ICT businesses (business angels, venture capital funds, corporate investors, crowdfunders, and others) European Investor Gate has built on the achievements of the ICT Finance Marketplace in order to rationalize the approach to EU funded ICT projects and SMEs, extending to ICT SMEs targeted by the Digital Agenda, and scale the resources and tools created to extend the reach and footprint of such a capacity building programme. During the last two years, Go Beyond has developed various online and offline training offers which will be dealt with in this section. The investment readiness trainings have been carried out in various forms such as webinars, round tables, video podcasts, coaching workshops and in-depth training courses. Under this overall objective, separate distinct sub-objectives have been reached through the awareness raising and training activities:
Objective 1: Awareness raising at local, regional and European level
(for concrete dissemination materials produced see Work Package 6)
AWARENESS RAISING:
Local and regional events: Under the lead of Go Beyond all partners have established contacts with entrepreneurs and research communities at their local and regional level through mailings, communication and dissemination activities (see WP 6) as well as through local and regional events. Regional events include for example the Heidelberg Innovation Forum, the local Business Angel events of Go Beyond, the investment forums of Media Deals held in France, the investor meetings pf Bpifrance or the meetings and breakfasts for entrepreneurs as well as larger summits carried out by DublinBIC.
External partners, channels and networks: Information about the project has been provided to the different National Contact Points, to DG Connect, to the EBN network via our partner DublinBIC, to the Enterprise Europe Network, to different European investor networks, incubators and accelerators across Europe such as Wayra, peacefulfish, Cap Digital, EBAN, KfW and Create among others. The networks of the partners include the enterprise network of bwcon as well as the MFG innovation agency network, the DBIC enterprise network, the Irish Halo Business Angel Network, Media Deals’ enterprise and business angel networks and finally the European business angel network of Go Beyond.
Subcontractors: Information on EIG was distributed via newsletters of the institutions. Furthermore, EIG’s subcontractors and associated partners France Angels, BAND e.V., Business Angels Europe and IBAN (Italian Business Angel Network) disseminated the project to their partners and members.
Overall, the EIG consortium alone has managed to address 7800 contacts via mailings alone in the second period of the project. Further participants have been reached by newsletters, social media activities, the EIG newsletter, at events as well as through personal networking. For concrete numbers and overviews see work package 6.
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All partners have widely distributed the different EIG flyers (see WP 6), held presentations at various events and communicated the services of the project in networking sessions. A roll-up has been produced to ensure a greater visibility of EIG.
Database: Under the lead of Go Beyond a database has been established which now contains more than 200 investor contacts and more than 1700 contacts of entrepreneurs, researchers and start-ups. Furthermore, the project has used the database to keep track of all training and pitching activities and of the participants profiting from the EIG services such as the bootcamp, the webinars, the investment forums or the e-pitches.
During the reporting period Go Beyond hosted 14 ‘general’ awareness sessions in Paris, Madrid and
London as part of our yearly calendar of events. At these events the EIG project activities were disseminated and participants were invited to join the programme.
ICT CONFERENCES AND THIRD-PARTY EVENTS:
The consortium has participated in a selected number of European ICT conferences across Europe. A
list of the EIG investment readiness forums at events such as the NEM Summit, Heidelberg Innovation Forum and the GEC Milan can be found below. This section targets the awareness raising events at local, regional and European level. Overall, the consortium has defined three major target groups:
1. Entrepreneurs, researchers and start-ups from across Europe 2. Investors and VCs 3. European stakeholders such as intermediaries, incubators,
All of these target groups have been addressed at the different events which not only include large summit but also business angel events or local start-up events.
Name City Date
Paris Group Awareness Seminar Paris 1/9/2014
Paris Group Awareness Seminar Paris 13/10/2014
Paris Group Awareness Seminar Paris 24/11/2014
Paris Group Awareness Seminar Paris 8/12/2014
Paris Group Awareness Seminar Paris 12/01/2015
Paris Group Awareness Seminar Paris 11/2/2015
Paris Group Awareness Seminar Paris 16/3/2015
Paris Group Awareness Seminar Paris 18/5/2015
Paris Group Awareness Seminar Paris 15/06/2015
London Group Awareness Seminar London 11/3/2015
London Group Awareness Seminar London 3/06/2015
London Group Awareness Seminar London 3/07/2015
Madrid Group Awareness Seminar Madrid 28/04/2015
Madrid Group Awareness Seminar Madrid 11/06/2015
Table 1 Overview Go Beyond Awareness Sessions
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Date Title Location Dissemination Type
Reach Responsible partner
3rd PARTY EVENTS (2nd reporting period)
12.-13.10.2014 Business Angel Day, BAND e.V.
Munich, Germany
EIG exhibition stand, flyers, direct dissemination
300 bwcon
21.10.2014 Forum „Industrie 4.0“, Microsystemtechnik Baden-Württemberg
Freiburg, Germany
Flyers, presentation
50 bwcon
05.-06.11.2014 Dublin Web Summit Dublin, Ireland
Flyers, direct dissemination
300 bwcon
19.11.2014 Investment Forum, Venture Forum Neckar
Heilbronn, Germany
EIG exhibition stand, flyers, direct dissemination
120 bwcon
05.02.2015 FET and Innovation Workshop, Brussels
Brussels, Belgium
Flyers, direct dissemination
100 bwcon
12.-13.02.2015 Startup Europe Summit
Berlin, Germany
Flyers, direct dissemination
150 bwcon
16.-20.03.2015 CeBit Fair Hannover, Germany
Exhibition stand, flyers, direct dissemination
200 bwcon
23.04.2015 Policy Conference on Boosting Investment Readiness in Europe
Brussels, Belgium
Flyers, direct dissemination
100 bwcon
09.-10.05.2015 Startup Weekend Rhein-Neckar
Mannheim, Germany
Flyers, direct dissemination
130 bwcon
29.-30.06.2015 Special interest group founding at universities and tech transfer
Heidelberg/
Stuttgart, Germany
Flyers, direct dissemination
50 bwcon
23.07.2014 EBN Congress Empower Youth | Accelarate Entrepreneurship |Transform Lives
Spain, Lleida Direct dissemination
200 MD
17.09.2014 EBAN Congress/Slush
Helsinki Direct dissemination
250 MD
29.09.2014 @diversity meeting in Brussels
Brussels Direct dissemination, flyers
100 MD
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14.10.2014 Conference Startups and spinoffs funding: public and private policies at the French Embassy in Berlin
Berlin Direct dissemination
80 MD
30.10.2014 Game Co Paris Paris Direct dissemination
50 MD
12.02.2015 Startup Europe event in Berlin
Berlin Direct dissemination
150 MD
June 2015 Game Lab Barcelona Direct dissemination
100 MD
October 2014 The South Summit Madrid, Spain
Flyers, direct dissemination during panel discussion ("Funding where to get it?")
100 Go Beyond
November 2014 BAE Club "Meet, Match and Deal" meeting
Paris, France Presented the EIG project, Euroquity and the Virtual deal pitches
50 Go Beyond
January 2015 Information Session: EU funded R&I project opportunities organized by the Malta Communications Authority (MCA)
Malta Presentation of EIG project
20 Go Beyond
March 2015 Malta Youth to Business Forum
Malta Dissemination 100 Go Beyond
May 2015 Startupbootcamp FastTrack
Zürich, Switzerland
Was jury and coach to entrepreneurs & mentioned EIG to those who would qualify
30 Go Beyond
May 2015 EBAN 2015 Angel Summit
Eindhoven, the Netherlands
mentioned EIG when speaker on panels and to entrepreneurs/investors met there
July 2015 12th EFER European Entrepreneurship Colloquium
Munich, Germany
mentioned EIG when speaker on panel
80 Go Beyond
04.09.2014 Halo Business Angel pitching Forum
The Radisson Hotel, Dublin
Flyers, presentation, direct
50 Dublin BIC
01.10.2014 The NDRC The NDRC Flyers, direct 100 Dublin BIC
06.11.2014 The Web Summit, Dublin
RDS Dublin, D4
Flyers, Direct 200 Dublin BIC
19.01.2015
IBM MVP “Build it and they will come”
The Guinness Enterprise Centre
Presentation, flyers, direct dissemination
56 DublinBIC
17.03.2015 ACE Summit 2 Global Entrepren-eurship Congress, Milan
Flyers, direct 80 Dublin BIC
22.04.2015 Halo Business Angel pitching Forum
The Radisson Hotel, Dublin
Flyers, presentation, direct
50 Dublin BIC
23.06.2015 TecXspose IBM, Mulhuddart, Dublin 13
Flyers, presentation, direct
85 Dublin BIC
17.11.2014 BAE Event Paris Presentation 40 Bpifrance
29.05.2015 TAFTIE Event Paris Presentation 80 Bpifrance
All year National meetings of Bpifrance with chambers of commerce, business schools etc.
France Presentation, flyers, direct
250 Bpifrance
TOTAL 42 events 4251
Table 2: 3rd Party Events attended by EIG partners, 2nd period
Cooperation in the FP7 and Horizon2020 Framework:
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The EIG project has cooperated with some related FP7 and H2020 projects to raise awareness among FP7 research project participants on the services of European Investor Gate. Among the collaborations were a strong link with the ACE project, which is one of the sister projects of EIG. European Investor Gate provided the training activities for the ACE Summit as part of the Global Entrepreneurship Congress in Milan in March 2015. In addition, European Investor Gate has also collaborated with several FIWARE projects such as FI Business and FABulous in the framework of the Heidelberg Innovation Forum 2015, connecting FIWARE entrepreneurs with the EIG programme and training activities. Furthermore, the collaboration with the ATALANTA project, another sister project of EIG, has been further strengthened with William Stevens remaining advisory board member in EIG and contributing to the programme. William Stevens as the CEO of Europe Unlimited is also coordinating the newly established H2020 project InvestHorizon. InvestHorizon has started its activities in December 2014 and will become the follow-on project of European Investor Gate. The two projects have already completed an agreement on the mutual dissemination of their project activities and moreover, the EIG community on EuroQuity and some other activities such as the webinar will continue under the InvestHorizon umbrella in order to establish a thorough sustainability framework to continue EIG’s best practices.
Objective 2: Capacity Building
1) ICT entrepreneurs and SMEs participating in EU funded programmes and those targeted by the actions of the Digital Agenda for Europe
Investor Readiness Training:
EIG has joined local investment events across Europe to provide investment readiness training and to
offer the opportunity to interface with potential investors and entrepreneurs/SMEs suitable for EIG. For the whole project 9 investment forums were planned, of which six have been held in the first reporting period. Overall, the EIG project has managed to carry out 12 investment forums in total in its two years of existence.
The investment forums which have been held so far are (for details see WP 3): NEM Summit 2013, Nantes, October 2013 ICT 2013, Vilnius, November 2013 Heidelberg Innovation Forum, April 2014 New Frontiers for European Entrepreneurs, Brussels, April 2014 Future en Seine, Paris, June 2014 NEM Summit 2014, Brussels, September 2014 Silicon Stroll Bootcamp, Dublin, November 2014 ACE Summit and Global ENtrepreneurship Congress, Milan, March 2015 Laval Virtual, April 2015 Berlin Games Week, April 2015 Heidelberg Innovation Forum, May 2015 Hot Deals Event, Paris, June 2015
The table below provides an overview on the investor readiness sessions on-site which have been held in connection to the EIG investment forums at European events. Investor Readiness Training Onsite:
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Event Companies trained
NEM Summit 2013 11
ICT 2013 12
Heidelberg Innovation Forum 2014 19
New Frontiers for European Entrepreneurs 51
Futur en Seine 11
NEM Summit 2014 11
Dublin Silicon Stroll Bootcamp 50
ACE Summit/GEC Milan 51
Laval Virtual 12
Berlin Games Week 16
Heidelberg Innovation Forum 2015 28
Hot Deals Event 13
Table 3 Overview Training at EIG Investment Forums
The project has regularly collaborated with regional, national and European partners involved with EU
funded ICT projects to invite the projects to join local investment events to receive an investment readiness training. The project has in particular established links with ACE, Atalanta and InvestHorizon. Regional or national partners include accelerators, incubators and large research networks (Fraunhofer, Steinbeis etc.) and universities from all regions involved.
Other Training Workshops:
Finance Info Day Stuttgart, Germany November 2014 In the framework of the Finance Info Day 2014, about 50 founders, researchers and entrepreneurs
were informed about different financing instruments in investment readiness workshops and through presentations of different stakeholder. The programme of the workshops consisted of the following components:
Workshop on angel investment Presentation on credits and loans Presentation on micro credits Presentation on innovation vouchers Workshop on shares and assets as well as contract details and legal aspects In-depth workshop in the afternoon on crowdinvesting including organising a crowdinvesting
campaign The workshop took place in the bwcon-building Stuttgart, various partners such as the business Angels from Venture Forum Neckar, L-Bank Stuttgart, Mittelständische Beteiligungsgesellschaft MBG, Crowdinvesting networks and experts and the Ministry of Economics and Finance among others contributed to the event.
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Figure 2 Impressions Finance Info Day, Stuttgart
Idea Factory Workshop Esslingen, Germany March 2015
The Idea Factory Workshop Esslingen took place in March and 2015 and was organised by bwcon
together with the Hochschule Esslingen. The workshop consisted of a 5-day-indepth training with different modules such as effectuation, business modelling, design thinking, pitching training, financing, pretotyping and others. The participants formed teams to develop disruptive business ideas or to work on their own projects and had to present their results to a neutral jury at the end of the week. In addition, entrepreneurs were invited in the so called “entrepreneur cafes” and shared their personal experiences and best practices with the workshop participants. Coaches from the EIG network joined the workshops to help the participants with improving their projetcs. One of the teams – Virtual Showcase – was later accepted by the jury to present at the Heidelberg Innovation Forum 2015 on smart data.
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Figure 3 Impressions of Idea Factory Workshop, Esslingen
Various coaches and 5 members of the bwcon team managed the event and took care of the training of the participants during the training week. Agenda – 09.03. – 13.03.2015 Every day a specific method on the basics of founding and establishing a company was introduced to the participants. The methods were based on the maturity level of an idea, as some methods make sense especially in a very early stage of developement, others more in a later stages. In addition to teaching the methods the participants worked on a very concrete idea in teams to apply the methods directly to their projects. Day 1: Method Design Thinking
In Design Thinking participants deal with finding creative solutions to complex problems
Corinna Voss led through the day. As a certified Design Thinking Coach she went through all phases of the design thinking process based on the needs and problems that the participants had collected beforehand.
Day 2: Effectuation
Effectuation is a method that promotes entrepreneurial thinking and action, and it is the exact opposite of classical economics and management tools
The highlight of the day was certainly that we invited Michael Faschingbauer to join us for the day. His book on effectuation won the Award for the Management Book of the Year 2010 and he is one of the well-known experts for the topic. Also, Klaus Haasis joined the group and carried out a session on team building.
On this second day, apart from the effectuation method the generation of ideas, teambuilding and the first entrepreneurial steps were dealt with.
Day 3: Pretotyping (not prototyping) and Lean Startup
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Pretotyping: Ensure that you build the right “it” before building it right. First test different hypotheses with a simple mock-up pretotype instead of finalising a complex and expensive prototype. The coaching was carried out by pretotyping coach Ralf Allrutz.
Lean Startup: In the method we have a focus on generating hypotheses about the reaction of your users and developing a test mechanism. The coaching was carried out by Mert Altindag, he is Professor of Entrepreneurship at the University of Izmir, where it has built an incubator.
Goal of the day: Check whether customers would actually buy your solution, test the user’s reaction
Day 4: Business Modeling with the Business Model Canvas and the Lean Startup methodology. On this day participants actually went out with their ideas and carried out user interviews Day 5 is then devoted to the pitch presentation and the next steps.
Participants had time to prepare a pitch presentation with the help of several coaches. At the end all team presented their final business ideas to a neutral jury.
In addition to these methodologies, each day consited of lectures - the so-called inspiration Islands -, of interactive workshop parts of coaching sessions as well as the “Entrepreneur Café”, where an entrepreneur from the region joined the teams and reported in an informal setting about his first entrepreneurial steps. Technology Transfer Day Karlsruhe, Germany June 2015
At the Technology Transfer Day organised by the Steinbeis Foundation in Karlsruhe, bwcon organised a
one-day training workshop for young founders and researchers. Using design thinking methods, the bwcon team elaborated and fostered business ideas of the participants and connected the participants with the EIG programme and activities. In the framework of the workshop the participants learned not only about how to develop their project ideas further, but were also trained on business modelling and pretotyping. Overall about 20 participants joined the workshop to work on their business ideas or new disruptive solutions in Karlsruhe.
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Figure 4 Impressions of Technology Transfer Day and Workshop, Karlsruhe
Training Material and Webinars:
Financing Overview for ICT Entrepreneurs
Go Beyond created the Guidelines for Financing an ICT Start-up, a powerpoint presentation of 21 slides
comprising the results and findings of the ICT Marketplace and Access to Finance projects including reports, findings and summaries and statistics. The guidelines provide hands-on advice for ICT-founders, researchers and start-ups to establish or refine their financing strategy.
The Guidelines referred to above were adapted and reworked into 2 x 1.5 hour online awareness raising webinars titled Equity Financing Overview for ICT Entrepreneurs. The first session is an introduction to equity financing and intended as a ‘teaser’ to get entrepreneurs to join the EIG Community; Part 2 is available only to members registered on the EIG community on EuroQuity. A breakdown of the two sessions is displayed below:
Part 1: Financing strategy Defining Refining Tips Launching the campaign Investor readiness Managing the financing round Tips
Part 2: Managing the Round and Closing Capital Structure Valuation General Docs Business Case Managing investors Deal lead Reporting Exit strategy Tips
These online events were held on the following dates:
Financing Overview for ICT Entrepreneurs Part 1 December 15th 2015
Financing Overview for ICT Entrepreneurs Part 2 December 18th 2015
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February 2nd 2015 April 21st 2015 June 15th 2015 August 25th 2015
February 4th 2015 April 23rd 2015 June 17th 2015 August 27th 2015
The Equity Financing Overview for ICT Entrepreneurs presentation was also further adapted into and
used as an additional ‘online training’ presentation which was delivered at: 1. ACE Summit 2015 2. Finance Info Day Stuttgart 2014 3. Idea Factory Workshops Stuttgart 2015 4. Heidelberg Innovation Forum 2015 Initially these were taught by Go Beyond and the partners taught the guidelines at other key events.
Specialisation – Training Modules on Specific Topics Apart from these webinars specifically established for the EIG project, Go Beyond also opened its other
webinars and courses to members of the EIG community.
The offline training workshops and online courses available for ICT project participants and entrepreneurs included the following:
Overview for ICT Startups
Find out who Business Angels or other investors are, why they invest time and/or money in start-ups and how to get started. Learn the early stage direct investing process and practices.
Due Diligence Learn how investors conduct due diligence.
Deal Terms
Understand the general terms and conditions of shareholder agreements and the impact they may have on an investment. Note: the topics covered are the common EU practices
Company Valuation Discuss drivers and definitions of Valuation. Review common company valuation methodologies and ways valuation may be adjusted
Manage and follow-on rounds
Discuss the phases of growth of a start-up, possible challenges that may arise during the life of an investment, the roles a Business Angel and other investors can have.
Exit an investment Management of the exit process.
Financials Learn about (or review) the fundamentals in financial reporting, financial analysis and investment tools.
Webinar calendar for specific trainings:
Exit Investments Part 1, 11th May 2015, 20:30 CEST
Company Valuation Part 1, 26th May 2015, 13:00 CEST
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Part 2, 14th May 2015, 20:30 CEST
Part 2, 28th May 2015, 13:00 CEST
Deal Terms Part 1, 09th June 2015, 13:00 CEST Part 2, 11th June 2015, 13:00 CEST
Due Diligence Part 1, 07th July 2015, 13:00 CEST Part 2, 09th July 2015, 13:00 CEST
Investment Strategy Part 1, 24th June 2015, 20:30 CEST
Registrants were obtained from:
1. The initial ICT FM database provided by EBAN 2. The Euroquity Community 3. Go Beyond’s database of companies and founders from the Gust platform from over 5000
companies 4. The EIG community on Euroquity and email invitations to the Go Beyond community and by project
partners to their own communities 5. Database of EIG with more than 1700 contacts 6. Other partners’ databases and contacts
Podcasts:
The training presentation was further adapted from the Guidelines into 8 short presentations covering
each main component identified and necessary for ICT start-ups and founders and available as downloadable podcasts to all EIG community members. The subjects are as follows:
1a – Preparing the Round: Building your financial strategy (14 slides) 1b – Preparing the Round: Sources of funding (18 slides) 2a – Launching the Campaign: Preparing pitch and presentation documentation (16 slides) 2b – Launching the Campaign: Setting up the company structure (13 slides) 3a – Managing and Closing the Round: Managing (25 slides) 3b – Managing and Closing the Round: Closing (14 slides) 4a – Managing Investors: Investors (10 slides) 4b – Managing Investors: Follow-on rounds (7 slides)
(All podcasts are available via the EIG project website; please click on the respective links.)
Qymatix Germany Pitch preparation – brief and dry run clinic Entrepreneurial Podcasts – Deal flows and exit mechanisms, early stage financing Webinar on financing for ICT entrepreneurs Onsite training at the Heidelberg Innovation Forum 2015 on legal questions, European markets, financing strategies and Business modelling In-depth mentoring provided by bwcon coaching group Invited to present twice at GBI Virtual Investment Events, on January 7th and June 11th. Pitch preparation, rehearsal and feedback Webinars – Due Diligence, Manage & Follow on Rounds, Exit Investments, Financing Overview for ICT Entrepreneurs and Deal Terms
Bwcon: Analysis of marketing channels Development of business model Refinement of internationalisation strategy In-depth mentoring on angel investment, legal advice March 18th meeting: diagnostic on his financing strategy to help him getting traction on his financial round Go Beyond April 15th meeting: update on financing strategy June 16th meeting: Term sheet, discussion on key terms. July 16th meeting: Shareholders agreement Business model and tips for his go to market strategy
Jan - July 2015
Virtual Dive France Invited to present at Paris GBI Investment Events, on January 12th. Pitch preparation, rehearsal and feedback
February 13th meeting: introduction and definition of coaching sessions according to entrepreneur’ needs April 15th Business model 1: helping to structure his offer, separate and complementing services and products with distinct value propositions and target clients. Economic model, go to market strategy and timing June 29th Business model 2: reality check and financial strategy
Feb - June 2015
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All Square Luxembourg Pitch preparation February 13th meeting: introduction and definition of coaching sessions according to entrepreneur’ needs April 15th HR / Company culture & Operations: hiring new people, stock option plan June 29th Financing strategy: Types of investors and number to bring
Feb - June 2015
Printsome Spain Pitch rehearsal Review of Business Model
Oct 2014 - Jan 2015
Just Temptation France Investment pitch preparation: invited twice to present to GBI Investors in Morges and Zürich: pitch rehearsal and feedback
Jan - Feb 2015
Oulala Games Malta Investment pitch preparation, invited to present to Virtual GBI Event: pitch rehearsal and feedback
Due diligence meeting with GBI Investors
Jan - July 2015
Free-Linked Germany Investment pitch preparation: invited to present to GBI Investors in Zurich Pitch preparation – dry run clinic EIG e.pitch in 2014 Entrepreneurial Podcasts – Deal flows and exit mechanisms, early stage financing Webinar on financing for ICT entrepreneurs Onsite training at the Heidelberg Innovation Forum 2015 on legal questions and IPR, financing strategies and Business modelling In-depth mentoring by bwcon coaching group
Analysis of business model and pricing Expansion strategy for other countries developed Refinement of financing strategy and definition of investment needed, connection with regional business angels and financial providers established
Jan 2014 - Jan 2015
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Check Ventory Ireland Pitch preparation – brief and dry run clinic Entrepreneurial Podcasts – early stage financing mechanisms E-pitch preparation and Pitch – January 29th 2015
Investment strategy review session with 3 mentors Analysis of verticals leading to the Re-positioning as a risk management platform Revision of financials, providing clarity and realistic company evaluation Adjustment of sales channels
April 2014 - May 2015
Fenestra Pro Ireland Pitch preparation – brief and dry run clinic Entrepreneurial Podcasts – early stage financing mechanisms and Deal flows E-pitch preparation and Pitch – January 29th 2015
Guidance on different routes to market and alternative positioning as an ad-on product which can be sold via lager platforms such as Revit and AutoCad
June 2014 - July 2015
True Pivot Ireland Pitch preparation – brief and dry run clinic Entrepreneurial Podcasts – Deal flows and exit mechanisms, early stage financing
Analysis of sales channels Development of pricing structure model Development of route to market and commercialisation methods Financial Planning and value proposition
May 2014 - May 2015
Studio PowWow
Ireland Pitch preparation – brief and dry run clinic Entrepreneurial Podcasts – Deal flows and exit mechanisms, early stage financing
Investment strategy panel review Analysis of sales channels Development of pricing structure model Development of route to market and commercialisation methods Financial Planning and value proposition
May - Nov 2014
TenderScout Ireland Pitch preparation – brief and dry run clinic Entrepreneurial Podcasts – Deal flows and exit mechanisms
Investment strategy panel review Analysis of sales channels Financial Planning
Feb - Nov 2014
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Evercam Ireland Pitch preparation – brief and dry run clinic Entrepreneurial Podcasts – Deal flows and exit mechanisms
Investment strategy panel review Value proposition development Commercialisation analysis
March - Dec 2014
EES Envirotech Ireland Pitch preparation – brief and dry run clinic Entrepreneurial Podcasts – Deal flows and exit mechanisms
Investment strategy panel review Value proposition development Commercialisation analysis Financial assessment
Jun - Nov 2014
Sytorus Ireland Pitch preparation – brief and dry run clinic Entrepreneurial Podcasts – Deal flows and exit mechanisms
Investment strategy panel review Value proposition development Financial re-assessment
Jun - Nov 2014
InMusic Ireland Pitch preparation – brief and dry run clinic Entrepreneurial Podcasts – Deal flows and exit mechanisms
Investment strategy panel review Refinement of financials – p&l forcast, company valuation, investment requirements
Jun - Nov 2014
Heystaks Ireland Pitch preparation – brief and dry run clinic Entrepreneurial Podcasts – Deal flows and exit mechanisms
Refinement of financials – p&l forcast, company valuation, investment requirements Marketing and sales strategy developed to encompass clearer pipeline and stronger sales channels
Jun - Nov 2014
Tribe Studios Finland Pitch preparation – brief and dry run clinic
Reality check on USP, user interest, business model Quantify market size and market share Clarifying and sharpening the innovation level of the product
March - July 2015
Gamers4Charity Germany Pitch preparation – brief and dry run clinic
Clarifying the actual USP Defining competitive advantage Develop sustainable business model Clarify investment offer
April - July 2015
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Studio Pixmix France Pitch preparation – brief and dry run clinic
Clarifying the actual USP Identification of growth potential and appropriate steps regarding content and geography Defining competitive advantage Identifying investment offer
April - July 2015
Cubical Drift France Pitch preparation – brief and dry run clinic
Clarifying the cross-platform content offer Quantify market size and market share Aligning the marketing strategy to the revenue model Identifying investment offer
April - July 2015
Battle Factory France Pitch preparation – brief and dry run clinic
Company differentiation Growth strategy Financial Planning and value proposition
April - July 2015
Recipay Luxembourg Pitch preparation – brief and dry run clinic
Clarifying the USP of content marketing Reinforcing the value proposition and clarifying the market opportunity First steps towards developing a growth strategy and defining milestones
July - Nov 2014
Xplain Data Germany Pitch preparation – Dry run clinic Refinement of marketing strategy Entrepreneurial Podcasts – Deal flows and exit mechanisms, early stage financing Onsite training at the Heidelberg Innovation Forum 2015 on legal questions, European markets, financing strategies and Business modelling
Analysis of business model and business plan Development of customer acquisition strategy Strategy for R&D cooperation Industrial partners
Dec 2014 - July 2015
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Scatter Blogs Germany Pitch preparation – Development of pitch deck Development of financing and marketing strategy Entrepreneurial Podcasts – Deal flows and exit mechanisms, early stage financing Onsite training at the Heidelberg Innovation Forum 2015 on legal questions, European markets, financing strategies and Business modelling
Analysis of business model and business plan Development of marketing strategy Financing strategy Strategy for R&D cooperation
Dec 2014 - July 2015
Vidatics Germany Pitch preparation – dry run clinic Development of strategy for partnerships and pilot customers Entrepreneurial Podcasts – Deal flows and exit mechanisms, early stage financing Webinar on financing for ICT entrepreneurs Onsite training at the Heidelberg Innovation Forum 2015 on legal questions, European markets, financing strategies and Business modelling
Analysis of business plan Development of partnership and customer acquisition strategy Marketing
Dec 2014 - July 2015
Virtual Showcase
Germany Pitch preparation – development of pitch deck Development of business model Development of financing strategy Entrepreneurial Podcasts – Deal flows and exit mechanisms, early stage financing Webinar on financing for ICT entrepreneurs Intensive training workshop in Esslingen in March 2015 by EIG Onsite training at the Heidelberg Innovation Forum 2015 on legal questions, European markets, financing strategies and Business modelling
Analysis of business model and pricing strategy Development of business plan Go to market strategy Development of financing strategy Marketing Technical development
Dec 2014 - July 2015
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3D-Revoprint Germany Pitch preparation – development of pitch deck Development of business model Entrepreneurial Podcasts – Deal flows and exit mechanisms, early stage financing Webinar on financing for ICT entrepreneurs Onsite training at the Heidelberg Innovation Forum 2015 on legal questions, European markets, financing strategies and Business modelling
Analysis of business model and pricing strategy Refinement of business plan Go to market strategy Refinement of financing strategy and coaching on funding and private investment
Dec 2014 - July 2015
SideTrip24 Germany Analysis of business model and pricing Expansion strategy for other regions Community and marketing strategy Refinement of financing strategy and definition of investment needed
Analysis of business model and pricing Expansion strategy for other regions Community and marketing strategy Refinement of financing strategy and definition of investment needed
Dec 2014 - July 2015
Match Rider Germany Pitch preparation – dry run clinic Entrepreneurial Podcasts – Deal flows and exit mechanisms, early stage financing Webinar on financing for ICT entrepreneurs
Go to market and B2B strategy Analysis of business model and pricing Expansion strategy for other regions and countries Refinement of financing strategy and definition of investment needed
Jan 2014 - July 2015
BringX Germany Pitch preparation – brief and dry run clinic Entrepreneurial Podcasts – Deal flows and exit mechanisms, early stage financing Webinar on financing for ICT entrepreneurs Onsite training at the Heidelberg Innovation Forum 2015 on legal questions and IPR, financing strategies and Business modelling
Analysis of business model and pricing Expansion strategy for other regions developed Partners and logistics network Refinement of financing strategy and definition of investment needed
May 2014 - May 2015
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ACE Health Ireland Pitch preparation – brief and dry run clinic Entrepreneurial Podcasts – Deal flows and exit mechanisms
Assessment of competitors in this space and development of stronger positioning Exploration of sales channels and pricing structures Deep dive competitor analysis
Jun - Nov 2014
Bizbase Ireland Pitch preparation – brief and dry run clinic Entrepreneurial Podcasts – Deal flows and exit mechanisms
Assessment of competitors in this space and development of stronger positioning
Aug 2014 - March 2015
Samgo Germany Pitch preparation – Development of pitch deck Development of financing and marketing strategy Entrepreneurial Podcasts – Deal flows and exit mechanisms, early stage financing Onsite training at the Heidelberg Innovation Forum 2015 on legal questions, European markets, financing strategies and Business modelling In-depth mentoring provided by bwcon coaching group
Analysis of business model and business plan Development of R&D and marketing strategy Development of financing strategy Industrial partners
Dec 2014 - July 2015
IHO GmbH Germany Pitch deck – dry-run clinic Development of marketing strategy Entrepreneurial Podcasts – Deal flows and exit mechanisms, early stage financing Onsite training at the Heidelberg Innovation Forum 2015 on legal questions, European markets, financing strategies and Business modelling In-depth mentoring provided by bwcon coaching group
Analysis of business model and business plan Development of R&D and marketing strategy Customer acquisition
Dec 2014 - July 2015
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Discovergy GmbH
Germany Pitch deck – dry-run clinic Development of internationalisation strategy Entrepreneurial Podcasts – Deal flows and exit mechanisms, early stage financing Onsite training at the Heidelberg Innovation Forum 2015 on legal questions, European markets, financing strategies and Business modelling In-depth mentoring provided by bwcon coaching group
Analysis of business model and business plan Development of internationalisation and growth strategy Customer acquisition
Dec 2014 - July 2015
Courtdesk Ireland Pitch preparation – brief and dry run clinic Entrepreneurial Podcasts – Deal flows and exit mechanisms
Investment strategy panel review with 3 mentors Value proposition development Commercialisation analysis Financial assessment
Feb 2014 - Nov 2014
Eiratech Robotics
Ireland Pitch preparation – brief and dry run clinic Entrepreneurial Podcasts – Deal flows and exit mechanisms
Advices on IP and patent application Development of key milestones to get project “off the ground” Marketing strategy and commercialisation focus Financial assessment, p&l summary revision
Aug 2014 - Nov 2014
Trinity Autism Project
Ireland Early advices on the investment process
Advices on IP and patent application Commercialisation plan Advices on required team member and product expansion/product line Product/market fit revision
Feb 2015 - July 2015
Bankhawk Analytics
Ireland Pitch feedback and dry run clinic
“Deep Dive” competitor analysis Value proposition refinement
March 2014 - Nov 2014
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Xintec Ireland Pitch feedback and dry run clinic
Value proposition refinement Guidance on pipeline deal flow, key milestones to be achieved and how to use investment most effectively to scale. Market segmentation and analysis of key markets to be served.
April 2014 - Nov 2014
Table 4 Overview in individual coaching for 40 companies
2) Investors interested in investing in ICT businesses (business angels, venture capital funds, corporate investors, crowd-funders, and others)
European Investor Gate has established an investor database with more than 200 contacts of European
investors. This investor database was mainly established through the connections and databases of the five EIG partners. Further contacts were added through the EIG events or e-pitches and awareness raising activities.
Overall, 233 investors have attended the investment forums of the EIG project. In addition, the Connect Investor Club as a core group of investors interested in cross-border
investments had already been established in the first year of the project and the successful meetings have continued in the second year, for details see work package 3.
Investors were informed regularly via the EIG newsletter on the latest project activities. Invitations to investors were sent out for specific events such as the investment forums and e-pitches.
Go Beyond has developed a training module for the training of investors to better recognise the potential of innovative ICT research projects or business ideas which will be used in the second period of EIG.
At the networking sessions for investors and meetings of the Connect Investor Club EIG has: 1. Assisted early and later stage investors understand the type of support EU funding provides to
research projects and SMEs and to understand the rationale for funding, 2. Informed investors on innovative ICT technologies and sectors and crucial research findings –
also from EU projects 3. Encouraged more investment in ICT by private partners, possibly in co-investment with public
partners 4. Updated the investors database regularly and identified additional investors with specific
interest for ICT EU R&I programmes and projects
b) Major outcomes and significant results:
D2.1 Comprehensive guidelines on financial strategies building on lessons learned from the ICT Finance Marketplace (M2)
The comprehensive guidelines have been made available as a first step to establish and refine financing strategies for researchers and entrepreneurs from the ICT sector. They have been made available via the EIG website.
D2.2 Development of specific training material developed to enhance investment readiness of partners in EU projects (M5)
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Apart from the materials and the 2 x 1.5 hour modules produced for the EIG webinars, 8 podcasts have been created in order to provide further hands-on tools for the researchers and entrepreneurs participating in the EIG project.
D2.3 Track record of 350 participants having received online and offline training D2.4 Track record of 40 participants having received individual coaching D2.5 Database of investors reached through awareness activities and interested in ICT EU R&I
programmes and projects (first version M12). A second version has been hander in and with this version the requested number of 100 investors has been more than exceeded. The database contains more than 200 investor contacts.
The project has exceeded the number of 1000 investors, entrepreneurs and researchers to be contacted, more than 1700 participants have profited from the online and offline coaching alone.
c) Deviations from Annex I
The EIG project has successfully managed to coach more than 1700 participants in total across Europe. However, so far 321 users have completed a profile for the EIG Community on the EuroQuity platform instead of the 350 completed profiles envisaged. The official goal has almost been reached, but overall there has been some difficulty with convincing the participants to register on an online platform. The added value of the EuroQuity platform has been largely communicated to researchers and entrepreneurs, but the participants have expressed a preference for onsite events and direct support through one-to-one coaching sessions. EIG has therefore decided to focus on concrete training activities. All in all, matchmaking and connecting entrepreneurs and investors often is a question of trust and to conclude financial deals, several personal meetings are necessary to establish a connection between the investor and the founder concerned. In any case, it should be noted that far more companies profited from EIG’s coaching activities than originally planned and more investment forums and e-pitches were carried out.
In addition, the table below shows that more person months have been spent in WP 2 than originally foreseen. This is on the one hand due to the fact that considerably more person months had already been spent in reporting period one. On the other hand, it should be noted that bwcon GmbH in particular has carried out more training workshops. Especially the idea factory workshop stands out here as it lasted a whole week and various coaches and staff of bwcon was involved. This development also accounts for higher spending in personnel costs for bwcon as apart from the junior staff senior consultants and bwcon CEO were involved in the selection processes and coaching. Furthermore, the whole consortium has trained far more companies than originally foreseen, with roughly 1700 participants having profited from the training activities in total.
d) Statement on use of resources
Total PM Plan PM Period 2
BWCON PM spent Period 2
MFG PM spent Period 2
MD PM spent in Period 2
GB PM spent in Period 2
DBIC PM spent in Period 2
BPI PM spent in Period 2
PM Spent in Period 2 all partners
WP 2 8 3 2,63 0,09 0,8 0,42 0,46 0 4,4
Table 5: Statement on use of resources, EIG, 2nd reporting period, WP 2
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WORK PACKAGE 3: PRE-SELECTION – IDENTIFICATION OF NEEDS - MATCHMAKING
a) Summary of progress towards objectives and details for each task
The objectives of WP3 have been intertwined with those of WP2 and WP4. The tasks which have been undertaken under this work package were based on the contacts already established during the awareness raising and training process of WP2 and aimed at establishing a continuous selection process by choosing suitable enterprises throughout the project for the different types of training and pitching events offered by EIG. 50 promising companies from across Europe participated in the Dublin bootcamp – EIG’s main training event – and the 13 most investable start-ups joined the disruptive EIG Hot Deals event in June 2015 at the end of the project to close their financing rounds. Overall, the activities of WP3 were dedicated to allocating the project participants to the different project events and trainings, such as the webinars, the e-pitches, the investment forums and other coaching activities. The overall goal was to deliver hands-on consulting and training together with matchmaking services tailor-made for the different stages of development the participants were at. There have been specialised offers for advanced stage start-ups as well as for early stage founders or researchers. With the amendment completed, the matchmaking aspect which is particularly visible in the investment forums and e-pitches has also been included in the work package.
Objective 1: Evaluation criteria and allocation of project participants – Foundation of training activities
Evaluation:
Media Deals has elaborated evaluation criteria at the beginning of the project to ensure that participants can be selected in a comprehensive and transparent way for the different project activities such as the investment forums, e-pitches or the bootcamp. Partners rely on the agreed criteria and selection process to review companies’ investor readiness and needs for support.
The overall criteria were the following:
CRITERIA Description of the Criteria WEIGHT
ICT based product/service
The product/service is based on an ICT technology in at least one of the mentioned categories
15%
Level of innovation The foreseen product/service has a strong innovation potential: is innovative and fresh compared to the current working method in the sector
15%
Market potential There is a strong potential market opportunity for the developed product/service
25%
Implementability There is a convincing access to market strategy for the product/service and competitive advantage. The business model shows good potential for scale
10%
Target group The product or service has a defined target group of customers 10%
Team Management team has skills and experience to grow the business
15%
Financing Relevance of budget and financing plan the demand/offer to invest in the company is well defined and attractive to investors
15%
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Table 6: Evaluation Criteria developed in Work Package 3
Media Deals has provided a continuous evaluation and selection process of the entrepreneurial stage and
the investment needs of the participants as to offer them the right coaching opportunities and to facilitate their interaction with investors. This process has been supported by all partners of the EIG project.
Together, the EIG partners have laid the foundations of tailor-made training and personalised coaching and have allocated the participants to the different project activities according to their needs.
In the course of the EIG competition start-ups, founders and researchers were selected for the 12 investment forums including the Silicon Stroll Bootcamp and the Hot Deals event. The EIG project decided with the project amendment to continuously offer webinars, podcasts and coaching activities for all eligible participants in order to offer the EIG services to as many start-ups as possible.
Objective 2: Connect Investor Club focussing on cross-border investment
Launch of the Investor Club:
In May 2014 Media Deals has successfully initiated the launch of
Connect Investor Club focussing on cross-border investments in Cannes.
The tasks and activities connected to the creation of the club
included: o Selection and Invitation of investors o Organisation of the meeting/discussion/work programme in Cannes o Design of a logo o Moderation of several meetings and events of the club, for example at the NEM Summit
2014 and before/after the special e-pitch for the Connect Club in December o Mobilisation of the attending participants to the club objectives and activities
The figure below provides an overview of the members of the club from 9 different European countries:
Figure 5: Overview Connect Investor Club
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In addition to the investment forums attended by the members of the Connect Club such as the Heidelberg Innovation Forum, the NEM Summit and the Hot Deals Event in Paris, the members have also exchanged information and gathered in private meetings to discuss the EIG investment opportunities in more details.
The group of investors of the Connect Club has been regularly mobilised both to recommend companies and commit to the events. A dedicated investment pitch of the Club was organised in Brussels during the NEM Summit 2014. Prior to the pitch event, the investors of the Connect Club had been invited to join a closed meeting to discuss and share with each other their current mutual deal opportunities.
As a preparation of the Brussels’ investors meeting and pitch event, each investor of the club was asked to recommend a company to the others. See below an example of this process. This recommendation process was implemented at several times during the project. Media Deals intends to sustain the group activities after the project is over.
Investor Company Reasons for recommendation
Edwin HENGSTMENGEL Netherlands
Voicebooking http://www.voicebooking.com/
There are many online voice agencies. But only one works as an automated web platform; transparent and with fast delivery times & fixed fees – that didn’t exist yet. This idea seemed to be an instant success. Since the launch in January of 2011 Voicebooking.com is one of the fastest growing voice agencies in Europe.
Jack LAYDEN Ireland
Wappzapp.tv http://www.wappzapp.tv/
100 TV channels and still nothing on? What a waste of your time!
Instead of mindlessly flipping through
TV channels, your favorite on-demand
video's are only a swipe away on
WappZapp.
Klaus HAASIS Germany
Your Painting www.yourpainting.de
I think they have a potential to grow, it is an interesting team with a very committed founder, Martin Engel, they have an attractive value chain with painters in Asia, they are in a fascinating phase now with their crowdfunding campaign.
Table 7 Example of Connect Club recommendations
In December 2014, a special e-pitch session was organised by Media Deals exclusively for the Connect
Club with companies currently closing their financing round. The members of the Club were able to suggest companies from their portfolio which they are planning to invest in or have already invested in to generate trust and foster cross-border relationships with other investors.
Objective 3: Establishment of 9 investment forums
The goal was to organize 9 investment-forums in the course of the EIG project – which has actually been
exceeded with 12 investment forums held in total in the course of the project. These Investment Forums were organized in various European countries and provided the right environment for companies to brainstorm with researchers and entrepreneurs working in the content and networks’ sector as well as to
discuss investment and partnership opportunities with specialised sector financiers. The investment forums were always connected to further training and pitching opportunities for the companies.
Overview on the 12 EIG Investment Forums:
The table below provides an overview of the 12 investment forums held in cooperation with major European ICT or start-up summits:
Investment Forum Sector focus Companies Investors
NEM Summit 2013 Investment Forum in Nantes (30 October)
Creative industries 11 9
Investment Forum during ICT 2013 in Vilnius (6-7 November)
all ICT 12 15
Heidelberg Innovation Forum 2014 (8-9 April) Smart Production 19 29
New Frontiers for European Entrepreneurs 2014 in Brussels (29 April)
all ICT 51 18
Future en Seine 2014 in Paris (12 June) all ICT 11 10
NEM Summit 2014 Investment Forum in Brussels (30 September)
Creative Industries 11 14
Silicon Stroll Bootcamp in Dublin 2014 (3-4 November)
all ICT 50 34
ACE Summit and GEC in Milan, ACE/EIG Investment Pitch 2015 (18 March)
all ICT 51 22
Laval Virtual Investment Forum 2015 (8 April)
Virtual & Augmented Reality
12 12
Berlin Games Week Investment Forum 2015 (22 April)
Games (design, distribution, IT)
16 15
Heidelberg Innovation Forum 2015 (19-20 May)
Smart Data 28 30
Hot Deals Investment Pitch 2015 in Paris (26 June)
all ICT 13 25
TOTAL 285 companies
233 investors
Table 8 Overview on 12 EIG Investment Forums
Training opportunities for companies:
Each investment forum included training activities which were designed and implemented by the EIG partners. All partners were involved in these trainings as well as some investors of the Connect Club. All selected companies to the investment pitches benefited from an online coaching (review of pitch decks), participated to pitch rehearsals and had the possibility to attend specific workshops such as “test your business model” or “test your idea-IPR” in Heidelberg, cross-border investment (what are the benefits of having a European business angel on your board) at the ICT2013 in Vilnius and in many other training roundtables and workshops throughout the second reporting period.
Structure of the Investment Forums:
31
The investment forums always consisted of at least three components: trainings sessions and preparation for the start-ups, pitching opportunities in front of investors and market players, and an awareness session or introduction to the EIG project. In some cases, private meetings for investors or special sessions such as the Fail Workshop in Heidelberg were included in the programme.
Examples:
Investment Forum Laval Virtual, France Media Deals, EIG and French TIC clusters present during Laval Virtual 2015 “Investment Forum Augmented and Virtual Reality”
AGENDA 7 April Training workshops and pitch review for the participating companies AGENDA 8 April
9:00 Coffee and welcoming breakfast 9:15 - 9h45 Panel discussion on Equity investment in the sector – Thierry Baujard, CEO Media Deals 10:00 - 12h00|European Investment Pitch 15 European companies in the fields of virtual and augmented reality, selected through a European competition, present their investment opportunity to a panel of European investors (Business angels and Venture Capital funds). From 14:00 | Laval Virtual tour – a private tour with Laurent Chrétien, CEO of Laval Virtual and Christophe Clergeau, Président Pays de la Loire will be organized. One-to-One meetings can be organized between invited investors and selected companies. 20:30 Laval Virtual Gala
Participants
Companies Investors 7-Minute-Pitch
- Scale 1 Portal SAS - Immanuel Icart, CEO and Co-Founder (France)
- Digitalarti - Malo Girod de l’Ain, CEO and Co-Founder (France, US)
- Optinvent - Kayvan Mirza, CEO and Co-Founder (France)
- Alterniity - Ioannis Tarnanas, Co-Founder and Veronika Petrova, Strategy and Growth (Switzerland)
- InnerSense - Stéphane Mercier, CEO (France)
- Energiency - Arnaud Legrand, CEO and Vincent Wautelet, CEO (France)
- Aleksandar Čabrilo, Serbia (Serbian BAN)
- Frédéric Falise, Switzerland (GoBeyond)
- Luis Gaemperle, Switzerland (GoBeyond)
- Massimiliano Gilardi, Italy (IBAN)
- Dusan Kosic, Serbia (Serbian BAN)
- Joséphine Muller, France (FBA – Femmes Business Angels)
- Stéphane Rivoallan, France (Orange)
- Stephen Rockman, UK (Merism Capital)
- Alain Sordello, France (Investessor)
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- Feasy Motion - Philippe Mathieu, COO (Belgium)
- Augmented Class - Jorge Lopez, Co-Founder and Managing Partner (Spain)
- Cyberith - Holger Hager, CEO and Co-Founder and Pierre Mercy, Software Development engineer (Austria)
- Ubleam - Samuel Boury, CEO and Co-Founder (France) Elevator Pitch - Rewind Cities - James Kirby, Managing Partner (Portugal)
- Catopsys - Daniel Duhautbout, President and Co-Founder (France)
- Virtual Dive - Alain Dinis, CEO and Founder (France)
- Benoît Tabutiaux, France (BPI France)
- Filippo Zanetti, Italy (IBAN)
- Patrick Zucchetta, France (HT Solutions)
- Bertrand Distinguin, France (Go Capital)
- Audrey Haas, France (Plateforme Anaxago)
- Marie Chkaiban, France (Plateforme Anaxago)
Table 9 Participants of Laval Investment Forum
Investment Forum Berlin Games Week, Germany
Franco-German Video Game Meetings French Embassy in Berlin – 22.04.2015
The First Franco-German Video Game Meetings will be held on Wednesday, April 22nd, 2015 at the Embassy of France in Berlin as part of the Berlin Games
Week. The aim of these Meetings is to start a discussion among institutional and economic stakeholders in
order to identify future collaboration areas for joint programmes. The discussions specifically look at three areas of collaboration in the games sector: political, financing, and education. AGENDA 9:30-13:00 Franco-German Meetings of Video Games - auditorium High level French and German stakeholders (political, economic, academic organisations) in the Video Games industry are invited to discuss and explore future collaborations regarding education, employment and financing of video games. Speakers
- Axelle Lemaire, State Secretary for Digital Affairs at the French Ministry of the Economy, Industry
and Digital Sector – Video conference
- Julien Villedieu, Managing Director at Syndicat National du Jeu Vidéo (SNJV - French Video Game
Trade association)
- Thorsten Unger, Executive Director Politics, GAME Bundesverband der Deutschen Games-Branche
- Benoît Tabutiaux, Division Manager at BPI France
- Stéphane Natkin, Director of CNAM – ENJMIN (Ecole nationale du jeu et des médias interactifs),
Angoulême
- Thomas Dlugaiczyk, Director of the Games Academy, Berlin
9:45 - 10:45 Franco-German Institutional collaborations in the field of video games 11:00 - 12:00 Financial and Regulatory frameworks 12:00 - 13:00 Education and employment in the video games sector - The panel is organised by the Creative Europe Desks MEDIA Germany and France. French Embassy in Germany, Berlin – Rue de France 14:00 - 16:00 Investment Pitch for Games | Focus: France - Germany – auditorium 12 French and German video games companies will have 5 minutes to convince a panel of European Equity investors (Business angels, VCs). Companies are selected through a European competition. 16:00 - 18:00 Networking Reception – Rue de France 16:00 Welcome note Ambassador of the French Republic, Philippe Etienne 16:15 Welcome Note on behalf of the German industry, Maximilian Schenk, BIU get-together Participants
Companies Investors 7-Minute-Pitch
Fairytale Distillery (Das Tal) - Alexander Zacherl, Managing Director (Germany)
gamers4charity - André Sonder and Oliver Weimann, Co-Founders (Germany)
PlayAround - Xavier de Baillenx, Founder (France)
Vinoga - Oswald Bernard, Co-Founder and CEO (France)
MK Payment Solution - Tauseef Afzal, VP and Business Development (Germany)
Cubical Drift - Michel Thomazeau, CEO (France)
Mooneye Studio - Tobias Graff, CEO (Germany)
Studio PIXMIX (Debout Ludo) - Laura Fort, CEO and Damien Dessagne, CTO (France)
Battle Factory - Antoine Tran Huu, Marketing, Business Development Manager (France)
Dressed Monkeys - Alexander Johne, Founder and CEO (Germany)
- Jason Della Rocca, Co-Founder, Executions Lab (Canada)
- Lawrence Barclay, Investment Manager, DN Capital (United Kingdom)
Table 10 Participants of Investment Forum at Berlin Games Week
EIG Coaching Day 2015:
A major success has been the EIG coaching day held in the framework of the Heidelberg Innovation
Forum 2015 on the topic Smart Data in Germany. At the forum, a whole day was dedicated exclusively to training of researchers and start-ups in early innovation phases.
The programme of the EIG Coaching day on 19th May 2015 was the following:
Figure 6 Agenda EIG Coaching Day at Heidelberg Innovation Forum
In the pitching battles the participants had the opportunity to test their presentation beforehand in front of a jury. In the different coaching sessions the start-ups and researchers discussed all aspects of their projects from the business model to financing or IPR.
The pitching event of the Heidelberg Innovation Forum took place on 20th May, the agenda can be found below:
Figure 7 Agenda Pitching Event at Heidelberg Innovation Forum
The coaching days and the Heidelberg Innovation Forum will be continued in the coming years by EIG-
partner bwcon. The official report with pictures can be found here. In addition to the regular report, bwcon has also recorded a video with the participating start-ups, coaches and investors which can be found here.
Objective 4: Establishment of six E-Pitches In collaboration with the EIG consortium, Media Deals has organised all of the 7 e-pitches for the EIG
project. At each e-pitch session, 5 to 6 start-ups from across Europe presented their innovative business ideas.
The sessions are moderated by different partners of EIG, the selection process and training of the participants is carried out by Media Deals, Go Beyond, bwcon and DBIC.
24 April 2014 Qymatix, Germany digital worx, Germany Bistri, France Ogarit, France Sereneo, France Alleantia, Italy
8 July 2014 Gamedonia, Spain Induction Manager, Ireland CineGV, Ireland Apprentus, UK Dreamtechsoftware, Ireland
9 September 2014 Free-Linked GmbH, Germany Inside Visions, Portugal Medicodose, France Bankhawk Analytics, Ireland Boolino, Spain Incitat, France
3 December 2014 Connect Club Pitch FenestraPro, Ireland Markita, Netherlands App Tweak, Belgium Bica Studios, Portugal
11 December 2014 Courtdesk, Ireland Ampacimon, Belgium Ignidata, Portugal CheckVentory, Ireland Ace Health, Ireland
5 March 2015 Skemmi, Belgium Lumi Industries, Italy Signal GeneriX, Cyprus Spotlime, Italy SlimCut Media, France
7 May 2015
PlayAround, France LifeTime, Germany Unitag, France OulalaGames, UK Vescape, Germany DocRAID, Germany
Table 11 Overview: Participants of the 7 EIG e-pitches
Overall, 37 companies participated in the EIG e-pitches and profited from direct contacts and the
pitching opportunity in front of European Investors The investment required by the participants was between 150k and 1.2 m Euro The sessions are held via the AdobeConnect web conference system of Bpifrance which is why concrete
data of the e-pitches will be displayed under WP 5 (see below). The e-pitches have proved to be a very successful format for involving investors from across Europe in
the project. 25-35 investors were registered for each e-pitch. Before each e-pitch, coaching sessions and dry-run clinics took place to prepare the participants for the
online events.
Example:
Invitation to the Connect Club e-pitch on 3rd December 2014
10:00-10:45 PITCH EVENT/Adobe Enter the Pitch conference room here at 10:00 am https://meet58689589.adobeconnect.com/r2d4b9enmby/
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Companies’ pitch decks are available: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/nfehbaboxmdztpk/AACgfVzA5crB4NxMbCBfLBD2a?dl=0 10:45-11:15 CONNECT INVESTOR CLUB FOLLOW-UP DISCUSSIONS/Skype Online Investment Pitch – December 3rd,2014 Participating entrepreneurs Simon Whelan, COO - FenstraPro is a cloud based building information modelling (BIM) software for building designers to design environmentally efficient non-domestic building façades more cost effectively (Ireland) Investment Sought: €200K www.FenestraPro.com Marieke Lever, Partner/Director of Products & Marketing - Markita is a leading online marketplace in the Benelux for unique gifts from talented Dutch Design professionals (Netherlands) Investment Sought: €200K http://markita.nl/ Olivier Verdin, CTO - AppTweak is an online easy-to-use ASO platform helping to increase your app rankings and downloads (Belgium) Investment Sought: €600K https://www.apptweak.com/ Nuno Folhadela, Game designer, CEO - Bica Studios is a young and energetic game development studio for Web, Smartphones and Tablets (Portugal) Investment Sought: €250K http://www.bicastudios.com/home Participating investors of the Connect Investor Club
Brigitte Baumann, Switzerland (Go Beyond Ltd) Frank Bonn, Sweden (Nouvago Capital) Philippe Gluntz, France (France Angels) Klaus Haasis, Germany (Business Angels Stuttgart) Edwin Hengstmengel, Netherlands (ENDEIT) Xavier Huerre, Belgium (Be Angels) Jack Layden, Ireland (Halo Business Angel Partnership) Ricardo Luz, Portugal (Invicta Angels, Porto Business Angels) Marco Miramonti, Italy (IBAN) Stephen Rockman, UK (Merism Capital)
D3.1 Selection Criteria and Evaluation Scheme D3.2 Kick-off Connect Investor Club in Cannes D3.3 organisation of 9 Investment Forums connected to European Summits
With 12 successfully held investment forums and 7 e-pitches the EIG project has by far exceeded the
numbers envisaged.
Investment deals completed in the course of EIG:
The following companies secured investment throughout the life cycle of the project. It should be noted that not all of the companies could be tracked throughout the project life cycle. Details of the investee companies can be found in below.
1. Heystaks
2. Coindrum
3. InMusic
4. Induction Manager
5. FenestraPro
6. Hanakai
7. Qymatix
8. Medicodose
9. All Square
10. Ignidata
11. Evercam
12. Lumafit
13. Buddy Watcher
14. Smoope
15. Picsastock
16. Golaem
Table 12 Companies having secured investment in EIG
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Investee Company Summaries:
“Efficient Façade Design Software for Building Designers”
Sector
Creative/Cleantech
Investment Secured
€500,000
Country
Ireland
Stage of Development
Seed
FenestraPro is cloud based building information modelling (BIM) software for building designers to
design environmentally efficient building façades more cost effectively. FenestraPro not only ensures compliance with increasing environmental standards and international best practice at an early stage in the design process, it improves the design process significantly by eliminating late stage redesign, generating savings of at least 30%. It enhances the performance of the building by ensuring that the thermal, solar and day-lighting performance characteristics are optimised early in the design process. www.fenestrapro.com
“A new generation of sales analytics”
Sector
Big Data
Investment Secured
Not disclosed
Country
Germany
Stage of Development
Early
Qymatix is a SaaS solution that enables sales managers to achieve a much higher business success
rate through better marketing decisions. The Qymatix solution simplifies data manipulation, runs advanced analysis and presents the best results. Sales Managers are now able, by just one click, to access critical sales data. Qymatix visual data discovery enables you to gain insight and communicate your sales results without the need of an expensive IT department or data analyst. Let our Business Intelligence Tool work for you. Upload your sales transactions and create reports, analytics and dashboards in minutes. Qymatix automatically generates stunning charts, tables and graphs, with an intuitive user interface. Combining different sources, Qymatix presents the user with all the information he needs to make more successful sales decisions. www.qymatix.de
“Extracting value from mobile subscriber behaviour.”
Sector
Mobility/Analytics
Investment Secured
€1.5
Country
Ireland
Stage of Development
Seed
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Heystaks has developed a platform to analyse the behaviour of mobile subscribers and build accurate
profiles of intent. These profiles deliver higher-value advertising opportunities and enable mobile operators to participate in the massive mobile advertising market. www.heystaks.com
“All Square connects the power of people's love for golf on
one completely free, accessible and engaging social media
platform designed exclusively for golfers”
Sector
Services
Investment Secured
€725,000
Country
Luxembourg
Stage of Development
Early
All Square gives golf clubs the opportunity to enhance their online presence among a very targeted
audience of golfers. Our platform has a global reach and creates a very strong marketing avenue that forward-thinking clubs and brands can attract high end customers. We use the latest social media and app technologies to harness the passion for golf on a community level. Our business model and solution have been validated through strategic partnerships with worldwide companies such as Troon® and KPMG. Troon® partnered with us to increase the overall visibility of their 230 resorts located in 27 countries and 33 states. All Square received an award at the 2014 HSBC Golf Innovation Forum and at the Red Herring Top 100 Europe. www.allsquaregolf.com
“A new dimension of safety on the basis of ultrasound”
Sector
Security
Investment Secured
€300,000
Country
Germany
Stage of Development
Advanced
Free-Linked develops technology products in the field of safety and comfort. Their specialization lies in
bidirectional communication on the basis of ultrasound. The innovation finds its first application in a preventative warning system for sport diving which is called “Buddy-Watcher”. With the “Buddy-Watcher“ Free-Linked has created a means of communication that, as a preventative system, helps making sport diving considerably safer. In emergency situations the Buddy-Watcher can even save lives as it allows diving partners to send emergency signals under water in a simple way on the basis of ultrasound. The product is already available on the market. The pioneering technology which was developed by Free Linked can be transferred to a range of applications. www.buddy-watcher.de
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“Collect & Connect, InMusic.”
Sector Creative/Social
Investment Secured Not disclosed
Country Ireland
Stage of Development Early
InMusic You love music… right? Well, imagine you can browse the websites of the best new artists
online and collect the music you love as you go. InMusic is a network of independent musicians’ websites that are beautiful and simple to create. And, because they are on the same network, fans can browse through them connecting directly with the artist, commenting on their content and build up their online music collection by clicking ‘Collect It’ on the music they discover. Like with Pinterest, you can be a trend setter when others follow your collections and you can subscribe to others so you can easily find what’s new, InMusic. www.inmusic.com
“Making Coins Count.”
Sector
Services
Investment Secured
€350k
Country
Ireland
Stage of Development
Early
Coindrum allows airline passengers to spend unwanted coin currency before departing into different
currency jurisdictions. By operating machines at departure gates, Coindrum turns unwanted coins into airport retail vouchers or enables people to donate to a charity of their choice. It’s an easy, free and quick service to solve the coin inconvenience for passengers, whilst converting more travellers into retail customers for airports.www.coindrum.com
“Take charge of your inductions.”
Sector
Services
Investment Secured
€1m
Country
Ireland
Stage of Development
Early
Induction Manager An induction is the training which new staff receive. In US they call this an orientation so we’re also known as Orientation Manager. Traditionally inductions have been delivered in a classroom using company trainers. Induction Manager makes the entire process a whole lot easier by transferring it to the cloud. Staff arrive pre-inducted and ready to hit the ground running! We’re 2 ½ years old and now have 35 customers across Ireland, UK, US, Canada and Africa. Our customers include: Adobe, BAM, Pfizer, Domino’s Pizza, British Gas, Balfour Beatty and Sodexo. We’ve proven our business in the UK market and now plan to scale in the US. www.inductionmanager.com
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“Smart pharmaceutical packaging combined with IT.”
Sector
e-Health
Investment Secured
€500k
Country
France
Stage of Development
Early
Medicodose
Patients’ non-compliance or non-adherence is costing the US and European healthcare systems more than $450 billion per year. Also, $75 billion per year is lost to prescription drug counterfeiting. MEDICODOSE’s technology consists of smart pharmaceutical packaging and an IT platform working seamlessly to provide patient reminders, check and report real time adverse reactions “ePRO”, drug-drug interactions, worldwide medicine authentication, prescription drug counterfeiting detection and patient compliance monitoring and reporting. Potential users are generic and brand name pharmaceutical companies, health care insurance firms, CROs and health care practitioners. Forecast revenue for 2019 is around $481M. www.medicodose.com
“Igniting Business with Data.”
Sector
Socialisation/Services
Investment Secured
€150k
Country
Portugal
Stage of Development
Seed
Ignidata
solves business and research challenges by providing real time market insights to help companies perform better. Our goal is to provide marketing research in a simple, fast and cost effective manner - by using a seamless online platform that connects companies that need market research studies (paying companies) to content providers (e.g.: games, TV series, movies, newspaper articles, football) whose consumers will participate in order to unlock the content they want. We are shifting from the traditional
“A mobile "SKYLANDERS" for grown-ups.”
Sector
Internet of things/Games
Investment Secured
Undisclosed
Country
France
Stage of Development
Early
Hanakai has developed a concept using NFC playable objects (figurines or cards) to interact with
mobile devices F2P applications. www.hanakai-studio.com
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business model based in money transaction to a new model of time for content transaction (consumers answer surveys to unlock content). www.ignidata.com
“The evolution of fitness.”
Sector
Medtech/Services
Investment Secured
€700k
Country
Ireland
Stage of Development
Early
Lumafit takes wearable tech way beyond step counting. An ear-worn device with on board heart
monitor and motion sensor, the Lumafit uses the unique signature head trajectory of each exercise to identify and score that exercise. It is the first system to know what exercise you are doing and how well you are doing it. Exercises range from situps and press-ups to gym activity such as sessions on the rowing machine or treadmill. Lumafit is partnered with PCH international as part of their accelerator program and is launched the Lumafit in the US and Europe in December 2014. www.lumafit.com
“User-friendly customer service with instant messaging”
Sector
Mobile
Investment Secured
€500,000
Country
Germany
Stage of Development
Early
Smoope is a young company from the Stuttgart area. Their aim is to connect companies and their
customers in a better and more efficient way. Smoope therefore offers an app that allows clients to enjoy a "Service To Go ": Customer service is taken to a new level with the Smoope application based on instant messaging. The team relies on the most modern and safe technologies and takes into account the changing communication behavior of people in an increasingly mobile and digitalised world. Hundreds of companies are already working with Smoope’s solution - from car dealers to dentists they already cover a wide range of industries. The app is even used in sensitive sectors, such as banks and regional authorities. www.smoope.com
“Eyes for the Internet of Things.”
Sector
Services
Investment Secured
Undisclosed
Country
Ireland
Stage of Development
Early
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Evercam is a platform for developing and working with cameras. Having grown out of a cloud CCTV
company, Camba.tv, Evercam makes it simple for developers to work with over 1600 makes and models of camera overcoming one of the principle hurdles in innovation around the live image. Using the Evercam platform, developers can now build applications faster, easier and, most importantly, they can distribute them to a wide user base through the Evercam app store. Partners include SAP and Netsuite where integrations have been developed using the Evercam Platform. www.evercam.io
“Artist-friendly tools to animate digital characters”
Sector
Animation/simulation
Investment Secured
€600,000
Country
France
Stage of Development
Advanced
Golaem Crowd makes it easy and affordable to populate worlds with directable digital characters,
from a few to thousands. Artists from all over the globe use Golaem Crowd to bring life to commercials, episodic productions, feature films and games. Golaem Crowd offers an intuitive interface, based on Maya workaday objects. It can be used by any artist, trained under 3 days. Built for performances, Golaem Crowd allows artists to find the right creative approach, whatever the number of characters they would like to have in their game, film or commercial. www.golaem.com
c) Deviations from Annex I
It should be noted that the EIG consortium has carried out more e-pitches and more investment forums than originally planned, leading to further investment deals in the course of the EIG project.
The higher amount of person months in this case is connected to the fact that additional investment forums have been carried out by the EIG consortium. In the case of bwcon, more personnel had to be involved this year as instead of 20 there were 28 companies trained this year and the number of staff and coaches involved had to be significantly extended. In addition to the junior staff working on the forum, bwcon’s CEO Jürgen Jähnert and senior consultant Joaquin Soucheiron became part of the coaching day team and were also involved in the selection process, which led to a higher spending in personnel costs. It should be noted however that the overall budget of EIG was not exceeded.
d) Statement on use of resources
Total PM Plan PM Period 2
BWCON PM spent Period 2
MFG PM spent Period 2
MD PM spent in Period 2
GB PM spent in Period 2
DBIC PM spent in Period 2
BPI PM spent in Period 2
PM Spent in Period 2 all partners
WP 3 14 7 4 0,18 1,52 1,4 0,37 0 7,47
Table 13: Statement on use of resources, EIG, 2nd reporting period, WP3
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WORK PACKAGE 4: PERSONALIZED COACHING TO RESEARCHERS AND ENTREPRENEURS
The overall objective of WP4 was to optimise the chances of investment success for the most promising project participants selected in WP3.
Objectives:
Organise a 1 day bootcamp to provide the 50 project participants pre-selected in WP3 with an insight into investor requirements and investment training
Develop an in-depth coaching and mentoring overview involving international coaches to address
the weaknesses of 50 project participants (selected at bootcamp) – the most advanced participants will later present to potential investors after having received the in-depth coaching
Providing the project participants with specific investor readiness training which involves both online
support (assisting the participants in showcasing their companies on the online portal) and offline support (providing training to project participants to pitch before international investor panels in WP5)
Create 50 truly investment-ready profiles of companies, entrepreneurs or start-ups to be presented
to investors in the course of EIG
a) Summary of progress towards objectives and details for each task
Objective 1: Investment start-up bootcamp
Structure and Programme of the Bootcamp:
The “Silicon Stroll Bootcamp” was held over 2 days (4 & 5 November 2014). The event was attended by 50 companies, 34 investors and 7 support organisations to include Google, Microsoft, PayPal, IBM, Trinity College Dublin and the Web Summit. The event agenda is located below (see pictures of programme). The event included the following activities:
Tech Giant Tour: PayPal, Google, PayPal: Each “tech giant” shared their perspective on current trends
and future insights across a multitude of technology sectors Case studies: 3 successful companies shared their journey, providing information about international
investment and the fundraising process Panel Discussion no securing international investment, with speakers drawn from the investment
community Pitch Battles: 48 of the 50 companies were providing with pitching opportunities with a grand finale
where the final 6 battled for position of best company. Networking dinner and numerous other opportunities which were attended by companies, investors and
support organisations.
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Peer to peer/group workshops on the following topics: (1) Deal flow and exit strategies (2) Early stage financing mechanisms (3) Business Modelling
Figure 9 Silicon Stroll Bootcamp: Agenda Tech Giant Tour
Figure 10 Silicon Stroll Bootcamp: Agenda Pitch Battles and Workshops
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Jury Panel:
The investment community were engaged throughout the event with judging panel members drawn from the following sources:
Umberto De Feo, Investor, Meta-Group, Italy (chair)
Conor Carmody, Halo Business Angel Partnership, Ireland (chair)
Richard Watson, AIB Seed Capital Fund, Ireland (Chair)
Richard Morton, AIB Seed Capital Fund, Ireland (Chair)
Brigitte Baumann, CEO Go Beyond, Switzerland
Andrew Macadam, Microsoft, Ireland
Philippe Gluntz, President Business Angels Europe, France
John Whelan, Technology Transfer Officer, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
Juliane Schulze, Media Deals, France
Luca Canepa, Italian Business Angel Network, Italy
Gilles Le Gocguen, BPI France, France
Ute Günther, Angel Investor, Germany
Chris Dial, Business Evangelist Lead for Western Europe, Microsoft
Paulo Anselmo, President Italian Business Angel Network
Desmond Fahey, CEO, Dublin BIC, Ireland
Alex Hobbs, Manager AIB Seed Capital Firm, Ireland
Sean Beirne, angel investor, Ireland
Support Organisations:
Google: PR, Venue prep, case studies, keynote speakers, content of presentation
A media campaign was launched in September 2014. A key component was a photoshoot with Google and IBM which was published alongside a press release in the following publications:
The Irish Times: Ireland leading business paper The Irish Independent Silicon Republic – Irelands leading tech news site Business Insider News site
Other dissemination measures included:
Blog posts, social media updates, consortium partner websites, EIG project website, EBN website, ACE Project website
The department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation were notified of the event, with members attending day one
Enterprise Ireland, the national support agency for entrepreneurship in Ireland were contacted and disseminated info regarding the event.
Dissemination among investors:
Support Partner
Number
Investor Type
Method
Dublin BIC 100 BA Direct via event & follow up email
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Dublin BIC 50+ BA + VC Direct, email
BPI 450 BA + VC EuroQuity Platform
BPI 50 BA + VC e-pitch session
Media Deals 70 BA + VC e-mail
Go Beyond 27 BA e-mail
Go Beyond 2220 BA, VC & general Newsletter
bwcon 99 BA + VC E-mail Table 14 Silicon Stroll Bootcamp: Dissemination to investors
The event was also disseminated by project subcontractors to their networks: France Angels, Business Angels
Europe and Italian Business Angel Network. It was also highlighted on the project website and social media
channels.
Silicon Stroll Bootcamp Flyer:
Dissemination Total 800+
Attendance Total 34
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Figure 12 Silicon Stroll Bootcamp Flyer
Winner of the Bootcamp:
Seabery, an augmented training and performance management platform for the healthcare industry from Spain, beat 47 companies and 5 other finalists to secure the top position, to include Tenderscout, Medicodose, Courtsdesk, Ignidata and CheckVentory.
This is the link to the press release of Dublin BIC on the winning team.
Figure 13 Winning Team Seabery of Silicon Stroll Bootcamp
Table 15 Key performance indicators of Silicon Stroll Bootcamp Dublin
Objective 2: Initial Investor Readiness Assessment and Investor Training 50 companies were selected throughout Work Package 3 via a standardised set of questions which were developed with input from all partners and according to the official selection criteria mentioned in work package 3. Companies were categorised according to level of investment readiness and technology sector, given a rating and then each participant was signposted to the most appropriate support (e-pitch, bootcamp, i-forum, online training etc.) The 50 most promising companies were selected to attend the bootcamp. Each company was provided with investment preparation prior to the event, these supports include:
Pitch brief – how to create an investor ready pitch deck, together with guidelines on delivering a
successful pitch Pitch review and feedback by panel of 3 mentors. Each company presented live via online Adobe connect
system where mentors provided feedback on the pitch. Access to entrepreneurial podcasts developed by Go Beyond Offline test pitches and investment mentoring by individual partners. For details on the e-pitches and online and offline training workshops or podcasts please see work packages 2 and 3.
The EIG project aims to support entrepreneurial projects that have received R&D funding through the European Commission. The consortium utilised its efforts to contact entrepreneurs through a far and wide approach, to include research institutes and universities. The final selection of companies that attended the bootcamp had 3 research projects: Signal Generix, a company specialising in real time cloud-metering technology for utilities, has received approximately €5 million for internal R&D through 15 EU research projects, a number of which are listed below.
“Lynceus: “People localization for safe ship evacuation during emergency", Research for SME Associations, Call SME-2011-2, project 286148, Total Budget: €3.3M
“WiserBAN: Smart miniature low-power wireless microsystem for Body Area Networks", ICT, Call FP7-ICT-2009-5 IP project 257454, Total Budget: €9.5M
"MariaBox: Marine environmental in situ Assessment and monitoring tool Box." Collaporative Project OCEAN.2013-2, Total Budget €7.2M
"MariaBox: Marine environmental in situ Assessment and monitoring tool Box." Collaporative Project OCEAN.2013-2, Total Budget €7.2M
Virtual Dive has been part of the FP7 research project “Digital Ocean”, a research project on virtual reality and making virtual diving possible by using disruptive technologies, making digital data on oceans and underwater life available and by using autonomous robots. Museotechniki received funding through the @Diversity project, however the funding was for marketing and promotional activities.
Support in the Framework of the Silicon Stroll Bootcamp:
The entrepreneurs selected for the bootcamp received regular support for up to 12 weeks prior to the event. These activities included:
Travel Assistance (accommodation and Flights) Participation in the Web Summit Inputs for the event brochure Investment preparation and pitch practice
Entrepreneurs received a range of investment preparation supports prior to the event, delivered through a combination of online and offline training. These included:
Direct mentoring by consortium partners Test pitches via online mechanism to a panel of 3 investment preparation specialists Test pitches delivered face to face by Dublin BIC mentors to 16 companies Access to entrepreneurial webinars delivered by Go Beyond Access to entrepreneurial podcasts created by Go Beyond
Pitching briefs outlining the key components of an 8 and 5 minute pitch together with pitched advices.
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Investment Readiness Training at the Silicon Stroll Bootcamp:
Case studies
Soundwave Curam The Now Factory Currency Fair
Entrepreneurial presentations
Enterprise Ireland Microsoft IBM PayPal
Group Workshops
Business Modelling Financing Strategies for Early Stage startups Exit strategies and deal flow
Panel discussion: “Challenges of Securing international Investment”
Overview on Investment Readiness Sessions:
48 Pitches
6 Pitch Battles
3 Group Workshops
Panel Discussion “Challenges of Securing
International Investment”
Networking Lunch
Microsoft Workshop
Feedback, Coaching & Mentoring
Feedback from individual pitch sessions was collated and provided to individual entrepreneurs to assist them with identifying weaknesses
All 50 companies were followed up after the event with an offer to access investment preparation mentoring
The EIG Coaching Mentoring Offer (see objective 3) was prepared for all 50 companies by Dublin BIC.
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EIG Mentoring Offer:
EIG Mentoring Offer
The EIG project will offer mentoring which specifically focuses on preparing companies to secure international investment. The services aim to address challenges in developing a funding strategy and implementing it while running/growing a business, It will be tailored to individual requirements. It will include group and one on one sessions Earlier stage companies can access an in-depth, hands on engagement whereas more advanced companies will be provided with higher level advice surrounding the existing investor relationship and bringing in foreign investors and new types of investors. The Mentors:
EIG project partner organisations made up of investment preparation specialists and active investors
The project is also supported by a number of International Angel groups that are committed to assisting the participants through high level advices.
The Services 1) The services provided to early stage companies will take a well-rounded approach, aiming to
prepare them to access investment and manage the funding process.
Lead mentor from an EIG Partner organisation Assistance to develop an investor ready business plan Pitch preparation Deciding when is the right time to raise financing, the best suited types of financing and developing
your financing strategy Advices on the investment process and relationships Online resources – Webinars and Podcasts
2) The services provided to advanced companies will focus primarily on your financing strategy,
managing the deal flow process and exit strategies.
Highly targeted mentoring addressing specific weaknesses (if any) Refining your financing strategy including contingency plan if financing is not reached as planned Advices surrounding the existing investor relationship and bringing in foreign investors and new
types of investors. Managing your financing round while continuing to aggressively grow your company Company Valuation Identification of actual financing needs Exit Strategies
Throughout the engagement companies will be provided with pitching opportunities via bi-monthly e-pitches, quarterly investment forums hosted throughout Europe and a Final pitching event due to take place in May 2015
Objective 3: In-depth coaching and mentoring overview (40+ companies)
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Company Support:
Throughout Work Package 4 participants of the EIG project received a wide range of supports, both online and offline. These include:
Pitching Briefs Pitch Deck Review, test pitches & feedback Peer 2 Peer learning Online training Case Studies/presentation In-depth/1-2-1 Coaching
In total participants were provided with 285 pitching opportunities to international investors across the various European investment forums and pitching events. Throughout the training, participants were encouraged to use this training to support their online profiles on the EuroQuity Platform. The selected companies went through a thorough investor screening which picked up the EIG investment readiness criteria of WP3. Below you will find an example of a final result of a company rating:
Figure 14 Example of company rating at Silicon Stroll Bootcamp
Mentoring Overview:
Dublin BIC drafted a template which was completed by EIG partners for their in-depth coaching and mentoring activities – for the template please see the figure below. In total 41 companies received in-depth coaching and mentoring overviews, this was due to the tailoring of services to meet requirements, were many companies did not want/require in-depth services. The additional
2,6 2,8 3 3,2 3,4 3,6
value proposition
sales and marketing
Competitive landscape
team capability
Financials
Quality of Pitch
Average Rating (1 - 5)
Average Rating (1 - 5)
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mentoring capacity was rolled out to a larger number of entrepreneurs through group mentoring, pitch preparation events, dry run clinics, online mentoring etc. Feedback from the investment community was integrated into a high number of these overviews after the bootcamp event, where the attending investors were requested to rank each company across a number of core business areas. An overview and report on the activities included for each company was created (D4.1). The figure below includes a sample completed overview with the following categories:
Company Name Tagline Logo Country Investment Sought/Secured Weakness identified by investors via bootcamp rating system Weakness identified by mentor EIG Investment preparation inputs (online AND general) EIG Investment preparation inputs (offline/1-2-1) EIG outputs Client testimonial
Coaching and Mentoring Overview – Company Example:
The overview on the in-depth mentoring including the summaries for all 41 companies can be found in the in-depth mentoring report (D4.1).
True Pivot
“Design once use twice!”
Sector
Services
Investment Sought
€650,000
Country
Ireland
Stage of Development
Seed
True Pivot The time it takes to find a specific element design from one building to reuse in another
building is prohibitive. So instead of searching for a previously done design, the engineer just redesigns the element completely. Up until now there has been simply no technology that quickly and automatically searches engineering design databases. Truepivot’s software automatically uploads a company’s design data to their secure storage space on the TruePivot cloud. We then parse all of their files and individually fingerprint them, making them searchable. As an engineer begins to model, our software analyses the model in real-time and automatically alerts the engineer to previous designs that match the model, cutting down the design time. www.truepivot.com
INVESTOR FEEDBACK: BOOTCAMP
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Value
Proposition
Sales/Marketing Competitive
Landscape
Team
Capability
Financials Quality of Pitch
3.7 2.8 3.4 3.4 3.4 3.8
WEAKNESS (Mentor/Investors)
Sales channels need exploration Pricing model Route to market requires definition
EIG INPUTS True Pivot engaged with the EIG programme in May 2014 where they began their in-depth mentoring. The following investment preparation supports were provided throughout the course of the programme Investment Preparation
Pitch preparation – brief and dry run clinic Entrepreneurial Podcasts – Deal flows and exit mechanisms, early stage financing
1-2-1:
Analysis of sales channels Development of pricing structure model Development of route to market and commercialisation methods Financial Planning and value proposition
EIG OUTPUTS
In the process of closing investment Investor ready business plan Investor ready pitch deck Pitching opportunity at the Silicon Stroll Bootcamp (November 2014) and the Heidelberg
Innovation Forum (May 2015) Tech Giant tour: Google, PayPal & IBM – “Future Insights, Trends and Innovations”
TESTIMONIAL Testimonial “We found the EIG project to be extremely beneficial, particularly in relation to preparing our business plan and working on our pitch. The strategic review we did with Michael Culligan was particularly informative. Michael's questioning during the mock-pitch and his feedback afterwards highlighted areas we needed to improve for future reference in particular Michael's feedback forced us to focus more on our market size/opportunity. Likewise the preparation for the Silicon Stroll Bootcamp was very helpful. The opportunity to pitch to a room full of potential investors during the Silicon Stroll was also hugely beneficial as was their feedback. The follow on in terms of investment preparation meetings with Conor Carmody was also very useful and helped us with our financial planning and value proposition. We're currently in the process of securing
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investment from a private individual investor and the EIG project was certainly a help in preparing for that. ” Richard Doody, CTO, True Pivot
Table 17 Template for in-depth mentoring overview
Overview of Companies having joined the In-Depth Mentoring:
Table 18 Participants having joined the EIG in-depth mentoring phase
Final results of the Coaching and Mentoring Programme:
Throughout the EIG project, 16 companies secured investment. The investment process is a complex and typically lengthy process which requires the refinement of the investment opportunity through multiple iterations of business plans, honing pitching skills and “deep dive” evaluation of core aspects such as value proposition, competitor analysis/positioning, route to market strategy, business model, sales/commercial strategy. The EIG project has, in many cases, provided coaching on the fundamentals of the scene, essential information about business plan/pitch preparation together with feedback on current weaknesses, strengths and opportunities. This groundwork effectively provides a solid foundation which allows these entrepreneurs and start-ups to learn in their own time. EIG partners are confident that the 16 success stories to emerge before the project end are just the starting point. All of the other training and support elements will lead to many more success stories in the future. b) Clearly significant results
D4.1 Coaching and mentoring overview for 50 companies, with a report providing an overview of those activities
D4.2 Investor Bootcamp Report based on evaluation questionnaires with regard to the exploitation of EU projects completed by participating companies
16 companies secured investment – it should be noted that not all of the companies could be tracked
throughout the project life cycle, and none of the online download companies could not be tracked) Details of the investee companies can be found in Section 4.
1723 companies engaged in investment preparation services (1247 via online investment preparation podcast downloads)
285 pitches to investors facilitated
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276 companies that received offline investment preparation e.g. pitch clinics, pitch deck review, presentation tips and dry run (this excludes duplicated companies that pitched at multiple events)
IBM has joined the board of advisor for one of the bootcamp companies. Google, IBM, PayPal, The Web Summit, Microsoft and Trinity College Dublin actively supported the
bootcamp event, providing high level insights on current trends and future insights across a number of key technology areas
The resounding response from the investment community after the bootcamp event was extremely positive, with companies securing high scores from investors across their core business areas, a strong indication of their investor readiness level.
The bootcamp survey received input from 84% of attendees with very positive responses through. A breakdown of these responses can be found in the bootcamp report.
The Dublin Web Summit supplied reduced price tickets and the opportunity to exhibit at their event for all participants on the bootcamp
c) Deviations from Annex I
n/a
d) Statement on use of resources
Total PM Plan PM Period 1
BWCON PM spent Period 2
MFG PM spent Period 2
MD PM spent in Period 2
GB PM spent in Period 2
DBIC PM spent in Period 2
BPI PM spent in Period 2
PM Spent in Period 2 all partners
WP 4 12,25 8 0,4 0 0 2,65 5,14 0 8,19
Table 19: Statement on use of resources, EIG, 2nd reporting period, WP4
WORK PACKAGE 5: ONLINE AND OFFLINE ACCESS TO INVESTORS
The objective of WP 5 was to establish an online European Investor Gate Community and deliver online services to increase matchmaking between ICT companies and investors. For this purpose, the consortium decided to use the EuroQuity platform (www.euroquity.com)
Goals: To increase matchmaking between ICT companies and investors via the establishment of a European
version of the EuroQuity platform with an EIG community Establishment of the EIG website
a) Summary of progress towards objectives and details for each task
Objective 1: Increase matchmaking between ICT companies and investors via the establishment of a European version of the EuroQuity platform with an EIG community
Development of the EuroQuity platform:
The development of a new space to hold the European projects has been accomplished in the framework of the EIG project. The start page is accessible via https://www.euroquity.com/eu. It allows to users coming from all the EU countries to join EIG (not only the French and German ones).
The EuroQuity platform will be further developed and sustained in the future, in November 2015 Bpifrance plans to publish the new and revised platform. For the new version, user feedback from the EIG community on EuroQuity and from all partners was taken into account. The version 2.0 of EuroQuity will contain various additional functionalities to create a better and more concise user experience
Bpi has given full access to the consortium members to the EIG admin functionalities. The EIG consortium has been able since the first quarter of the project to use the EuroQuity platform and the EIG project website and to have a moderator role to animate the community. They are able via EuroQuity to validate new users, add documents, have a look at the users’ profiles and projects descriptions, access to statistics and via the project website, to write and post articles, videos, create a links library to access to other resources.
Current status of the platform and sustainability:
The EIG community currently has 321 members in the EIG community on EuroQuity: 208
companies, 34 founders, 53 investors and 26 advisors are registered in the group. The founders and companies in the community come from 18 European countries.
As EIG is coming to an end, the consortium has developed a sustainability strategy to keep the community alive and to exploit the positive feedback and interaction of the community. The community will be managed by Bpifrance in the future and the project InvestHorizon has agreed to integrate the community into its investment readiness programme. InvestHorizon forms part of the Horizon 2020 programme and is the follow-up project of European Investor Gate. The branding of the community has already recently been changed to the one of InvestHorizon and all members have been informed that the services of EIG such as the online matchmaking, the investment readiness trainings and the investment forums will continue in the framework of the InvestHorizon project. The activities of the InvestHorizon project are already online on the project website and members of the EIG community can profit form the services already now.
Hence, the project has managed to create a sustainable continuation between the three projects ICT Finance Marketplace, European Investor Gate and InvestHorizon. This continuous approach departed from the first investment readiness materials developed in the framework of the project ICT Finance Market Place and led to the development of concrete services in European Investor Gate such as the podcasts, e-pitches, investment forums, trainings and other features, finally resulting in the InvestHorizon programme of Horizon 2020 with a European investment readiness scheme for various sectors. The InvestHorizon programme will continue and sustain the work which has been started and successfully carried out within EIG and will provide the community members with new activities, thus bringing a real added value to the community. The screenshot below provides an overview of the EIG community status with the new branding of InvestHorizon
EIG community on EuroQuity, now being transferred to InvestHorizon:
Figure 16 Profiles of companies and founders on EuroQuity
Investors inside the EIG Community:
Figure 17 Profiles of investors on EuroQuity
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Objective 2: Establishment of EIG Website
Creation of the EIG project website and evolutions done regarding the project modifications and the needs of the partners http://www.eig-project.eu
The EIG website has been updated several times since the beginning of the project.
The different services of the EIG project have been clearly displayed on the landing page.
Statistics of EIG website:
There have been 2306 visits and 5323 page views in June 2015 alone. As for the overall statistics, there have been ca. 47.500 page views in 2015 and ca. 16.000 visits in the
same period. When taking into account both reporting period from September 2013 until August 2015, there have
been ca. 120.000 page views and 33.000 visits in total.
Objective 3: To generate private investments in ICT results exploitation increasing the market impact of ICT research
E-Pitches developed by the EIG consortium to foster private investments
The EIG European e-pitches have been created within the AdobeConnect web conferencing system of Bpifrance following their model developed previously. EIG has initiated this new approach for the European sphere and trains and coaches the EIG members. All partners participate in each EU-pitch (selection, coaching, technical support, moderation).
For a concrete overview on the e-pitches please go to work package 3. The technical background and moderation has been covered by Bpifrance in the framework of work packge 5. In addition, Bpifrance has carried out the training and preparation after the selection supervised by Media Deals.
Highlights:
Top quality projects and presentations delivered: upfront selection is strict, and managers are coached both on the speech clarity and on the document contents by fundraising experts.
Time-saving: investors do not need to move from the office Anonymity: investors can log in and ask questions anonymously
Preparation before the pitch:
3 weeks before
EIG partners make a selection of companies. All of them come from the EIG community on EuroQuity. Bpifrance and Media Deals are in charge of selecting the companies.
2 weeks before When the definitive list of 6 companies is set, a technical test performed by Bpifrance is
required to make sure that presenters: do not have issues to run Adobe Connect on their computer do not have audio and video issues have a proper bandwidth can go through their document online without layout problems get a basic understanding of Adobe Connect A test lasts about 5-10 minutes with each presenter
Invitations are sent to investors by every EIG partner via e-mail, presenting companies anonymously in an attractive way (teaser). Bpifrance invites all the French seed / early-stage funds and business angels, creates and manages the registration form for all.
1 week before Under real conditions (online), managers do the pitch facing their webcam. After each pitch, the experts’ team comments it and gives advice and recommendation on any improvable aspect of the presentation.
During the pitch Back-office supervision (sound, video, quizzes, documents change…) is performed by Bpifrance A member of EIG introduces the session and the presenters Each manager presents his project and the need for capital on a 8-12 slide Powerpoint document, visible
on every attendee’s computer
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Pitch is 8 minutes long, and is followed by a Q&A session of 2/3minutes each, in which investors ask questions to the manager, by typing on the screen
Short quizzes appear on Adobe Connect, allowing investors to rate the company from a scale 1 to 5, and make comments on the presentation
Next manager comes up, and so on After the pitch (follow-up is done by Media Deals and Bpifrance) On the next day, all the registered investors get the links to the companies’ profiles on EuroQuity, where
they can get the presentation documents from, and contact the manager. Those who cannot attend the pitch are given the link to see the session recording.
Investors registered:
Date Pitch Registrations
24/04/2014
EIG online pitch #1
50 investors registered
08/07/2014
EIG online pitch #2
57 investors registered
09/09/2014
EIG online pitch #3
45 investors registered
03/12/2014
Connect Club Pitch
11 investors registered
11/12/2014
EIG online pitch #4
37 investors registered
05/03/2015
EIG online pitch #5
53 investors registered
07/05/2015
EIG online pitch #6
29 investors registered
Table 20 E-Pitches: Investors registered for each session
EIG Hot Deals Event in Paris:
With the Hot Deals Event on at Bpifrance Le Hub in Paris, the EIG consortium did not only find an excellent format for the project’s final event, but also found a new form of connecting companies and investors in efficient way. The innovative format was different from the other investment forums as start-ups pitched together with their investor. Thus, the company and the investor travelled to the event together. The investors briefly explained why they are investing in this particular company and afterwards, the companies presented their ideas to the audience which consisted mainly of other investors from across Europe.
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The main goal of the event was thus to find co-investors for the companies, the other criteria were the following:
European start-up or SME company with an innovative and scalable business model in the ICT/high-tech field
A prototype is already available Looking to raise early stage equity investment to support their company growth (approx. 200K€ -
2m€) Financing round is currently ongoing, ideally part of the investment has been secured
At the end, the following companies were selected to present at the Hot Deals Event in Paris:
Communication:
Apart from a flyer for the Hot Deals Event and invitation, mailings, tweets and others, a video has also been produced by Bpifrance, capturing some impressions of the successful matchmaking. You will find the event flyer below.
1. Luckas Decker, Coindrum – Making Coins Count 2. Nicolas Méric, Dreamquark – Big data at a new level 3. Simon Whelan, FenestraPro – Efficient façade design for architects 4. David Monks, iNovar-2Go Mobile – All your Business Intelligence Mobile…Now ! 5. Christophe Lecoeur, Incitat – Cost-effective solution improving household-waste sorting 6. Katina Schneider, Matchrider – Everyday Ride-Sharing 7. Giacomo Miceli, Memeoirs – Your digital life in a book 8. Bart Van der Roost, Neoscores – iTunes for sheet music. Finally. 9. Jacques Testud, Novimet – Rainfall at high resolution in real time 10. Pascal Métivier, Openways – OKIDOKEYS Smart Locks with Smart Keys 11. Andre Lutter, PicsaStock– The Uber for Photographers 12. Lucas Pedretti, Qymatix Solutions – A new generation of sales analytics 13. Anthony Gongora, Sounderbox – Controlling the music together is simple
D5.1 EIG community opening concept D5.2 Lessons learned from platform operation and overview on user-friendliness and relaunch
EIG website online, has been updated several times EIG community on EuroQuity fully operational and version 2.0 coming up, will be sustained by Invest
Horizon
c) Deviations from Annex I – Ongoing Amendment
There have been more than 320 registrations in the EIG community so far, thus the goal of having 350 profiles in the EIG community has been missed marginally. However, it should be stressed that EIG has carried out more investment forums, e-pitches and online/offline trainings than originally planned and supported more companies with actual events, mentoring and coaching activities. In addition, the
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community will be sustained by the InvestHorizon programme and more companies are expected to join in the future.
The higher amount of person months spent in WP 5 is on the one hand due to the fact that a seventh e-pitch was carried out and on the other that considerably more effort has been dedicated to the improvement of the EIG community, the EuroQuity platform as a whole and the connection with InvestHorizon as the follow-up project of EIG.
In the case of bwcon, additional time has been dedicated to the management and improvement of the EIG website and also to managing the website of the Heidelberg Innovation Forum for the EIG coaching Day. Bwcon’s IT expert Yuri Grosman got involved in the project to provide the technical assistance and to cover the IT administration processes. In addition, bwcon involved its CEO Jürgen Jähnert in the selection processes for the online matchmaking activities. This has led to a higher spending in bwcon’s personnel costs, but again the overall budget was not exceeded.
d) Statement on use of resources
Total PM Plan PM Period 2
BWCON PM spent Period 2
MFG PM spent Period 2
MD PM spent in Period 2
GB PM spent in Period 2
DBIC PM spent in Period 2
BPI PM spent in Period 2
PM Spent in Period 2 all partners
WP 5 10,5 4,5 3,19 0,09 1,8 1,77 0,25 3,51 10,61 Table 21: Statement on use of resources, EIG, 2nd reporting period, WP5
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WORK PACKAGE 6: DISSEMINATION, EXPLOITATION AND SUSTAINABILITY
For the whole project, the objectives of the work package on dissemination and exploitation were the following: Raise awareness on the project activities at EU and international level Disseminate the project and its findings to the public at large, progress raising and broadening interest
and knowledge about commercialization in Europe’s regions Create visibility of EIG project results and network Ensure wide access to EIG project activities and broad exploitation of EIG results Participation in 4 events a year targeting the investor community and 8 events for the research and SME
community (expected participation of 100 investors in the activities of European Investor Gate) Common entry point Startup Europe Hub for 7 EU projects including EIG and ACE
a) Summary of progress towards objectives and details for each task
Objective 1: Communication and Dissemination
Dissemination Materials and Preparation:
In the first reporting period, the following items had been prepared: Production and Update of Dissemination Plan Development, launch and maintenance of project website: www.eig-project.eu Development of project logo Development of project flyer Development and production of project rollup
Communication Activities:
We
bsi
te
Flye
r
Ro
ll U
p
Face
bo
ok
Ch
ann
el
Llin
kein
Gro
up
ICT
Tech
Tran
sfe
r
Twit
ter
chan
ne
l
Inn
ova
tio
n
Mat
ch
Mai
lings
Blo
g
Dissemination of EIG Project via
x X x /1 x x x x
Table 22 Overview communication channels in EIG
The project has been very active in disseminating the EIG project as regional, national and European
level through newsletters (both EIG’s own newsletters and the newsletters of the consortium and other collaborators) as well as through social media, articles and blog entries or via partners projects and subcontractors.
1 The Facebook channel of our partner Media Deals has been used frequently to communicate EIG events such as the investment forums. The consortium has therefore decided not to open its own Facebook page.
The communication channels of our three subcontractors BAND e.V., IBAN and France Angels as well as of our associated partner Business Angels Europe have been used frequently to communicate the different project activities. Furthermore, EIG has established a close cooperation with the ACE project which has also distributed EIG events and activities.
Blog:
In addition to the tweets and posts, Bpifrance has also used its EuroQuity blog in the second reporting
period to write about EIG project activities on a regular basis. The blog is available here: http://blog.euroquity.com/eu/
Figure 22 Example of blog post in EuroQuity blog
Additional blogposts and online contributions have also been written by other partners:
Since all EIG partners have Twitter-Accounts, the EIG has not created its own account but instead used
the accounts of the partners to disseminate EIG. The twitter account of bwcon is connected to the Heidelberg Innovation Forum and twitters via @innovationmatch. In addition, bwcon also tweets under @bwcon_info
Furthermore, Bpifrance twitters about the project regularly with the accounts @EuroQuity_de, @EuroQuity_fr, @EuroQuity_eu
Below some examples of tweets on EIG are displayed, the hashtags #europeaninvestorgate and #EUinvestorgate have been established
Examples of tweets on European Investor Gate:
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Figure 23 Examples of tweets sent in the course of EIG
Facebook and LinkedIn:
EIG does not have its own Facebook page, but has instead used the Facebook pages of the consortium
to display new on the EIG project. Particularly Media Deals, Go Beyond and BWCON have regularly published news on EIG via their Facebook accounts which has been a valuable channel for the project.
In addition, the LinkedIn group “ICT tech transfer” which is managed by BWCON is used for disseminating EIG activities such as the investment forums, the e-pitches and other events.
Articles/ Online news:
The EIG project activities have also been promoted in various articles in magazines and on external websites. Examples is displayed below:
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Figure 24 Examples of articles and online posts written on EIG
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Startup Europe Hub – Platform for all ICT-2013 11.5 projects:
Figure 25 EIG on start-up Europe Hub, the common platform for all projects belonging to the topic ICT-2013 11.5 on investment readiness and cross-border services
Objective 2: European access to EIG project activities and exploitation of EIG results
Measures targeting the European sphere to communicate EIG activities:
Indicators Total
No of persons reached via Mailings 7800
EIG Newsletter 18
Mentioning of Project in Newsletters 1102
Flyers distributed 2000
Flyers on bootcamp distributed 500
Flyers on competition distributed 400
Flyers for investors distributed 200
Blog Posts (EuroQuity blog) 123
Articles published (online and offline) 25
Articles EIG website 26
Banner 1
2 Newsletters of: Peacefulfish, BWCON, Bpifrance, MFG Innovation Agency, EBAN, DG Connect, medianet newsflash, EBN, DBIC, Go Beyond, Entreprise Europe Network; In addition, the EIG subcontractors have regularly disseminated the EIG events and online pitches in their own newsletters. 3 The blog of EuroQuity has been used to disseminate the EIG project. http://blog.euroquity.com/de/
Overall the project has focused on one to one communication with investors, founders and entrepreneurs according to the target groups mentioned below by addressing the potential participants directly at events.
Follow-ups have been done by distributing flyers and email communication to have the participants register on the European Investor Gate community of the EuroQuity platform.
The following groups have been addressed with the dissemination activities:
Target group A: Researchers, Innovators, Entrepreneurs
Researchers and developers from early stage ICT RTD projects and research projects in EU framework programmes
Other Researchers, Coordinators, Industrial R&D Units from the area of ICT technologies
Innovative SMEs and start-ups from the ICT Industries experienced in FP7 research projects
SMEs from the ICT industries with an interest in R&D activities
Target group B: Investors
Investor and Business Angels Networks from all over Europe
Venture Capital Associations, Corporate RTDs
Private Investors
Target group C: Multipliers
Networks and support supplying organisations from all over Europe
Corporate R&D departments
Press and media
Table 24 Communication target groups in EIG
The main channels to connect with the European public sphere are:
The EIG Website:
The start page of European Investor Gate (see WP 5) had direct links to the 5 European Investor Gate services which were:
Investment Forum E-Pitches The Silicon Stroll Bootcamp in Dublin Webinars Podcasts
Main messages on the EIG website:
Information on the project Clear dissemination of the EIG services Access to the EIG platform on EuroQuity Information on how EIG support entrepreneurs, researchers and founders
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Information on matching entrepreneurs and investors
The EIG newsletter:
The EIG newsletter is sent to the whole EIG community every month to give participants and investor an update on recent activities:
Figure 26 Example of the EIG newsletter
Direct Dissemination at European Events:
A list of all third-party-events attended can be found under work package 2. Overall the EIG project has participated in far more than then envisaged 12 events per year targeting the start-up and research community as well as investors across Europe.
Press Releases:
The project had already published three press releases on the kickoff of the project, on the EIG coaching day in the framework of the Heidelberg Innovation Forum and on the Silicon Stroll Bootcamp in Dublin in the first period. Further press releases were done for the second Heidelberg Innovation Forum 2015, for the Hot Deals Event in Paris and for other investment forums of EIG.
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The press releases have all been published on the EIG website under “News”: http://www.eig-project.eu/News_r1.html b) Clearly significant results D6.1 Communication and Dissemination Plan D6.2 Communication and Dissemination Report
All communication materials have been produced (roll-up, flyer, website, logo) Various third-party events have been attended for training sessions and to disseminate the project Many communication channels have been activated and regularly used c) Deviations from Annex I
The amount of person months spent deviates a little from the original plan as the project has carried out more training activities, e-pitches and events than foreseen in the project plan. This led to the implementation of additional communication material, new flyers for some of the investment forums, further press releases and other communication activities.
d) Statement on use of resources
Total PM Plan PM Period 2
BWCON PM spent Period 2
MFG PM spent Period 2
MD PM spent in Period 2
GB PM spent in Period 2
DBIC PM spent in Period 2
BPI PM spent in Period 2
PM Spent in Period 2 all partners
WP 6 8,75 3,25 0,95 0,06 1,35 0,26 0,84 0,9 4,36
Table 25 Statement on use of resources, EIG, 2nd reporting period, WP 6
Update because of new project activities (Investor Club, e-pitches, podcasts)
D1.2 Minutes of Advisory Board meeting 1 1 MFG R PP M10 M11 Subm.
D1.3 Project Report I 1 1 MFG R RE M12 M13 Subm.
D1.4 Project Report II (Final Report) 1 1 BWCON R PU M24 M24 Subm.
4 PU = Public
PP = Restricted to other programme participants (including the Commission Services). RE = Restricted to a group specified by the consortium (including the Commission Services). CO = Confidential, only for members of the consortium (including the Commission Services). Make sure that you are using the correct following label when your project has classified deliverables. EU restricted = Classified with the mention of the classification level restricted "EU Restricted" EU confidential = Classified with the mention of the classification level confidential " EU Confidential " EU secret = Classified with the mention of the classification level secret "EU Secret "
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D2.1 Comprehensive guidelines on financial strategies building on lessons learned from the ICT Finance Marketplace 1 2 GB O PU M2 M3 Subm.
D2.2 Development of specific training material developed to enhance investment readiness of partners in EU projects 2 2 GB O RE M5 M5
Subm., Podcasts
added Update with
podcasts
D2.3 Track record of 350 participants having received online and offline training 1 2 GB O RE M 22 M24 Subm.
D2.4 Track record of 40 participants having received individual coaching 1 2 GB O RE M18 M24 Subm.
D2.5 Database of investors reached through awareness activities 1 2 GB O RE
M12 M22 M24 Subm.
D3.1 Selection criteria and evaluation scheme 1 3 MD O RE M9 M10 Subm.
D3.2 Kickoff Connect Investor Club 1 3 MD O RE M9 M9 Subm.
D3.3 Track record of 9 investment forums 1 3 MD O PU M23 M24 Subm.
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D4.1 Coaching and mentoring overview for 50 companies 1 4 DBIC O RE M23 M24 Subm.
D4.2 Investor Bootcamp Report based on evaluation questionnaires with regard to the exploitation of EU projects completed by participating companies 1 4 DBIC R RE M16 M16 Subm.
D5.1 EIG community opening concept 1 5 BPI O RE M2 M2 Subm.
D5.2 Lessons learned from platform operation 1 5 BPI R RE M23 M24 Subm.
D6.1 Communication and Dissemination Plan 1 6 MFG R RE M1 M1 Subm.
D6.2 Communication and Dissemination Report
2 6 BWCON R RE M12 M13 Subm.
Update with suatainability and exploitation plan
Table 26: Deliverables Overview, EIG Project, all reporting periods
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TABLE 2. MILESTONES
Milestone no.
Milestone name
Work package no
Lead beneficiary
Delivery date from Annex I
Achieved Yes/No
Actual / Forecast achievement date
Comments
M1.1
Kick-off event in connection
with NEM summit in
Nantes 1 MFG M3 Yes M3
M1.2
Final Conference
in the Framework of the Heidelberg
Innovation Forum 1 MFG M21 Yes M21
Additional Hot Deals Event
M2.1
Negotiation with ICT Finance
Marketplace partners
regarding the use of existing
resources finalized 2 GB M2 Yes M2
M2.2
Organisation of training sessions 2 GB M 2-22 Yes M22
Podcasts as additional feature
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M3.1
Meeting Consortium -
Advisory Board for selection of
project participants 3 MD M10 Yes M10
M3.2
Establish Investment Forums and
Connect Investor Club 3 MD M23 Yes M23
More investment forums carried out
M3.3
6 European e.pitches held
as webconferences 3 MD M24 Yes M24
One more e-pitch held
M4.1
Bootcamp with 50 participants,
investment training 4 DBIC M15 Yes M15
M4.2
50 companies investor ready
after bootcamp 4 DBIC M22 Yes M22
M5.1
EIG community opening on EuroQuity 5 BPI M4 Yes M4
M6.1
Submission of Communication
and Dissemination
Plan 6 MFG M1 Yes M2
Table 27: Milestones Overview, EIG Project, all reporting periods
